From time to time, I check on the various community Facebook pages to see what members are interested in. A topic that seems to come up often is Trenton Water Works and, more specifically, what the Township is doing on behalf of its residents to address the poorly performing water utility that serves a majority of our community. Surprisingly, many comments demonstrate a lack of awareness of the actions taken by the municipal government over the past several years to address the issue. In response, I thought I would pull together information shared on the township website (www.lawrencetwp.com) and my blog (https://lawrencetownshipnjmanagerkpn.blogspot.com/). Both sources provide information on all things “Lawrence Township” and should be a part of your “search” for information on any given topic related to the community. The information is also frequently shared on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TownshipofLawrence/). We can only make the information available to you, but you must take a step to receive it.
Many,
but not all, of our residents, are customers of Trenton Water Works. Over the years, customers (including me) have
received alarming notices from the utility about one issue or another relating
to the quality of water we drink and use. As
you may know, Trenton Water Works is a public utility owned and operated by the
City of Trenton (one of the oldest in the country). With more than 225,000 customers, it serves the City
of Trenton and portions of Hamilton, Ewing, Lawrence, and
Hopewell. It has been operating, believe it or not,
since 1804! In our recent history, over
the past several decades, the aging infrastructure and poor management have
been a consistent concern for all.
In
2010, there was a serious initiative to sell TWW water lines and other infrastructure
that serves the “outside water users ” (Hamilton, Lawrence, Hopewell, and Ewing)
to New Jersey American Water for $80 million.
The sale met with opposition from customers from the townships concerned
that the deal would result in higher water costs and resistance within the City
that it would lose a significant asset that funded a portion of Trenton’s budget. Ultimately, the residents of Trenton voted against
the sale. I was the Municipal Attorney
for Lawrence Township back then, and my personal opinion then, as it is now, was
that the deal with NJ American Water was good for the customers in the
Township. NJ American Water was a professionally
managed water utility serving millions of customers in more than 20 states. It had the means to replace the old water
lines (with many being lead-based) and would be able to improve (pledging to
commit millions of dollars to do so) and operate the facility with the highest
standards. Instead, we were left with
TWW being owned and maintained by the City of Trenton and beholden to a
dysfunctional city council that voted against funding much-needed improvements to the facility.
In
2020, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection filed a
lawsuit against Trenton and TWW to compel the water utility to take certain
corrective actions to improve the infrastructure and operations of the facility. I provided a copy of a Press Release
explaining the action taken by the State against the City and then wrote a blog article that fully discusses the lawsuit.[i]
After
NJDEP’s lawsuit was filed and made public, township officials from the outside
water users (Hamilton, Lawrence, Ewing, and Hopewell) met to discuss the civil
action and agreed that the towns should join the lawsuit to advocate on behalf
of their residents who were customers of TWW.
As a result, the towns joined together and filed a motion to intervene
in the lawsuit. In an article I posted
in my blog dated July 13, 2020[ii]
I explained the action taken by the town to join the lawsuit to ensure they had a “seat at the table” to advocate for its residents. In their filing, the townships demanded that “Trenton and TWW provide safe and clean drinking
water for its residents. The right to
clean water is a human and constitutional right. This is non-negotiable. It is clear that Trenton and TWW have
repeatedly and egregiously missed benchmarks in fulfilling their obligation to
provide safe and clean water for the customers.” Another demand was asking
the court to force Trenton to sell the portion of TWW that serves their townships “because TWW has proven incapable of consistently
producing safe drinking water.”
Since
the time the townships joined the lawsuit (during the time of the pandemic, which slowed the progress of the case), there have been many court conferences
among the parties, site inspections and reviews, and many positive actions by
TWW to improve the facility, infrastructure, and management. In addition, the new makeup of the Trenton
City Council is a significant and positive development for the success of TWW. Mayor Reed Gusciora was never the problem. He understood the need for TWW to improve in
all respects, and now, I believe the new governing body has demonstrated
through their actions and vote that they know and understand that the facility
needs to be properly funded to meet the demands and conditions set by NJDEP
officials.
Since NJDEP
is the administrative entity that has the authority over water utility companies
operating in New Jersey, it is best positioned to enforce the regulations, identify
the issues causing TWW to operate below standards, and compel specific and
necessary action for it to improve. Remember, in addition to your township, the State of New Jersey and Mercer County are public entities that represent you and your interests as residents. I
have read many comments on Facebook by residents that believe nothing is being
done by their municipal officials. It’s
not true. Improving a failing water
utility with infrastructure that is aged and operated by underqualified professionals
for decades will take time. Have the
actions taken by NJDEP and the townships to compel TWW to improve worked? Yes, but we ain't done yet! TWW has made progress, but it still has a long way to go to get where it
needs to be to regain the confidence of its customers. Confidence that the water we all drink and
use and pay for is safe. Not from time
to time, but always. Getting all of us
to that mindset will take sustained and effective efforts by the City of Trenton
and TWW to work to do what needs to be done.
Until that day happens, rest assured, the NJDEP and the townships will be
relentless in their efforts to achieve the goal we all want – consistently safe
water to drink and use – and one day not worrying whether it is or not.
For
those wanting to take a deeper dive into this subject matter, I encourage you
to visit my blog, where I go into more detail and provide links to pleadings by
the parties.
