By james art 
The mayors of five municipalities served by the obsessed water works in Trenton are calling for the creation of an independent public usefulness for the management of the water system, which currently serves Trenton and the surrounding areas.
Trenton Water Works Administrative Building of 333 Cortland St., Trenton.
“We, the mayors of the cities served by TWW, said the mayors in a joint statement published today.
The statement was issued by the mayors Reed Gusiora of Trenton, Jeff Martin of Hamilton, Bert Steinman of Ewing, Patricia Hendricks Lawrence Farmer and Courtney Peters-Manning from Hopwa.
They respond to a recently published report by the State Environmental Protection Commissioner Sean M. Laturet, who outlines critical shortcomings in the current operations of TWW and recommends creating a new utility that would be separate from the Trenton municipal government.
The report states that usefulness will provide better access to funding, improve operational efficiency, attract qualified professionals and reduce the impact of political intervention.
Tww, which is currently owned and ruled by Trenton, every day supplies approximately 29 million gallons of drinking water to all of Trenton and Ewing, as well as parts of the city of Hamilton, Hopwell and Lawrence.
It also provides temporary water service to Bordentown, while repairs are carried out at the water treatment plant.
The Trenton Water System, one of the largest public property water systems in the United States, currently serves more than 330,000 people in five municipalities.
Water filtration plant in Trenton Water on the Delaware River. (Photo of Michael Walker’s kindness on tww.)
Despite its historical significance, the TW infrastructure is aging, with the water filtering plant already over 50 years old. Although the plant can produce up to 60 million gallons of water a day, it currently supplies only 33 million gallons to meet the demand.
“It is important to note that the bigger part of the customers of TWW – 55% – reside outside Trenton, but the other four municipalities do not have an official role in the management or power of TWW on its operations,” the mayors said.
They added: “This interruption between the needs of the service area and the management of the TWW emphasizes the need for a new model of management.”
When creating your report and helping the management of improvements, DEP purchases independent third -party assessments to objectively evaluate the condition of TWW and to investigate restructuring options.
These estimates have confirmed that the status quo is not an effective solution and a new utility company can be successful if, regardless of the Trenton municipal government.
Experts also emphasize that new usefulness can meet and maintain compliance with safe drinking water standards and guarantee the long -term resistance to systemic assets if its management, management and operations are fully upgraded and professional.
“The tension of the outdated infrastructure of the TWW has led to the need for very expensive improvements,” the mayors said in a statement. “It is important to note that New Jersey water systems with large areas for servicing diversity like Tww have capital projects costing millions of dollars.”
For example, TWW has offered a program to improve capital improvement worth $ 600 million since the beginning of 2000.
The mayors said they agreed to work together to improve fundamentally and make the necessary investments as part of this transformation into a new public useful enterprise.
Mayors said their key priorities for establishing a new public utility company included:
· Complete and transparent evaluation of the new process of creating a public entity;
· Reporting the costs that will be needed to compensate for the city of Trenton for his asset;
· Assessment of the impact of the project on the rates and fees; and
· Public campaign to declare how the new structure will affect the paid percentages as the necessary capital work, including the upgrades of the water filtration plant, improvements to the distribution system and the creation of new positions with competitive salaries to attract and retain qualified professionals.
“Cooperation between mayors is already underway and will continue to accelerate over the next six months,” the statement said. “Together we strive to restore the faith and confidence of the public in this new entity.”
Tww has been struck by a long list of problems for more than a decade. His numerous problems include concerns about water quality, regulatory disorders and surgery.
In 2022, the state DEP intervened in daily operations of TWW after finding that it has not been able to cope with many problems in providing safe drinking water for many years.
In 2020, the State Prosecutor and DEP filed a case against TWW – which later joined the municipalities served by the water supply utility services – seeking to comply with the city of Trenton and the water utility to take the necessary action after failing to comply With the administrative orders for consent to ensure safe drinking water.
The state said TWW needs significant improvements to the aging of the infrastructure, including its 7-decares, an air-detected resource that stores and provides already treated water up to about 70 percent of the TWW distribution system. The tank violates the federal requirement that all external tanks are covered.