Wednesday, June 21, 2023

"The Right To Clean Water is a Human and Constitutional Right" - A Story About Our Town and TWW

                 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.

               

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lawrence Township is becoming just like "Flint, Michigan". Do we really want to live like this, not being able to depend on something that is essential to healthy living. Something has to be done. This issue has gone on too long - too many years. It's time for the Township leaders to demand that they either immediately fix this problem (which is an impossible task for TWW) or sign up the Township to another water system. I called NJ American Water and was told that they " ... don't come down as far as my street.." They do, however, support parts of Lawrenceville proper. It's become very expensive - paying for bad water. I've been buying water for the past 8 years. I'm so afraid of getting sick from TWW. I won't give my dog the water from TWW. It's upsetting that we have to bathe, wash our clothes and dishes in this polluded mess. Something has to be done about this. Enough is enough!!

Kevin said...

With all due respect, comparing the water provided to Lawrence Township by TWW to the crisis in Flint, Michigan is alarmist and uninformed. The purpose of my article was to hopefully get people to take the steps needed to better understand the situation at TWW and how the Township is responding. The Townships and the State of NJ are taking lawful action against TWW to improve its operations and our water supply.