
NJ mayors say Trenton water utility should be abolished after ‘failing’ report
💧Trenton Water Works is run by the city of Trenton
💧The four other towns served by TWW have no say in its operation
💧A DEP report concluded 'the status quo is not sustainable'
The beleaguered Trenton Water Works needs to be washed away and replaced entirely, state and local officials say.
The mayors of the municipalities serviced by the utility say a new agency should be created, citing a damning 217-page report by the Department of Environmental Protection.
"The general conclusion of the evaluation is that Trenton Water Works and the CIty of Trenton demonstrate consistent non-compliance with TMF (Technical, Managerial, and Financial) criteria," the report says.
"Despite a physical system which was largely designed and constructed properly, TWW as an institution routinely neglected the requiste maintenance and upkeep of said system resulting in shortened shelf life, diminished capacity and redundancy and improper operation of treatment and distribution assets."
The report concluded that a new utility should be created to operate the system independently of the city of Trenton. About 55% of TWW's customers are from outside the capital city but have no formal role in decisions about its operations. Operations need to be "modernized and professionalized" in order to succeed.
"We, the mayors of TWW-serviced towns, agree that the status quo is not sustainable, and we believe that creating a new public utility, with governance that allows for greater operational independence and collaboration across municipalities, is a necessary step forward," the mayors said in a joint statement.
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora signed onto the statement along with Lawrence Mayor Patricia Hendricks Farmer, Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin, Hopewell Township Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning and Ewing Mayor Bert Steinmann.
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Problems at TWW
The mayors agreed to work together to "fundamentally improve and make needed investments" for the creation of the new utility.
The mayors were awaiting the report to plot a course after it was announced that the system's water went largely untested for more than a year, the utility belatedly told roughly 200,000 affected customers in December. A worker who falsified the relevant reports was fired, according to TWW.
TWW is still asking its customers to curb their water use after the frozen Delaware River prevened a buildup of ice blocked access to the utility's filtration plant.
(Includes material Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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