Trenton Water crisis: Study highlights financial chaos, billing delays, outdated equipment, worker shortages

Trenton Water Works, the beleaguered public utility that provides drinking water to more than 217,000 customers in Mercer County, remains hobbled due to years of management turmoil, financial disarray, old equipment and personnel vacancies.

Those are among the major findings of a study by water quality expert Steven Picco, who was hired by the city last year to review the troubled agency that has been under state oversight since October 2022 following multiple water treatment failures and missed deadlines to improve operations. Former Trenton Water Works engineer Steve Holmes, who worked for the utility from 2021 to 2024, co-authored the study.

In the 52-page report obtained by The Jersey Vindicator, Picco recounted “catastrophic failures” at the water works going back to 1975. But according to Picco, the problems spiked again almost 15 years ago under former Mayor Tony Mack, who was convicted of federal bribery, fraud and extortion charges.

“The water department was saddled with political appointees and … in some cases outright criminal behavior by some of its employees as well as the governing administration,” Picco wrote. “Senior staff … positions were not filled in a timely manner, causing significant disruption.”

More than a decade after Mack’s conviction, nearly two dozen key jobs remain vacant, according to Picco, a former water department director at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection who himself has been a consultant to the Trenton Water Works since 2018 and was named the interim director of the utility in 2019.

Picco said the vacancy problem was made worse by a city policy that required most municipal positions be filled with Trenton residents.

Mayors of surrounding communities served by the Trenton Water Works, which include Ewing, Hopewell, Hamilton and Lawrence townships, say the report’s findings are convincing evidence that fundamental reform of the agency, even a possible state takeover, is long overdue.

Hamilton Mayor Jeffrey Martin said his constituents remain deeply concerned over repeated water treatment failures that have exposed people to excessive levels of toxic chemicals and human pathogens such as Legionella, the deadly bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease.

“Incremental change at this point is not going to fix what clearly is a systemic problem,” said Martin. “I’ve got residents who buy bottled water for their pets. Some people won’t even bathe newborn babies with the water.”

Other major findings and recommendations of the Picco study

• Trenton Water Works has undertaken little or no worker training, the agency has a “serious lack” of mid-level managers, and poor worker morale has been made worse by the vacancies and confusing lines of authority.
  
• The billing of water customers is so flawed that delinquent accounts stem back 10 years in some cases.

“Many of these large delinquencies will wind up being uncollectable due to the passage of time, the death of the homeowner or the transfer of ownership,” Picco wrote. “Billing errors drag on for many years.”

• The utility’s engineering division and testing laboratory are both “woefully” understaffed and under-equipped. The water filtration plant on the Delaware River and storage and pumping facilities throughout the utility’s 615-mile distribution system have suffered “by an ongoing policy of deferred maintenance” and “underfunding.”
  
• Without an adequate financial process or resident budget officer, the utility struggles to track shifting personnel and maintenance needs. This year, employees are expected to collect more than $2.2 million in overtime on a total payroll of $14.1 million.

“Day-to-day financial problems are difficult to get a handle on,” Picco wrote. “It is very difficult for managers to make sure that funds are being allocated to the right accounts, and that balances are accurate and current.”

• According to Picco, next year, Trenton Water Works needs to increase its current $51.5 million budget by about 50%, to $76.6 million. The additional funds would enable the agency to replace all vacant positions and add 17 new jobs in areas like worker training, administration and community outreach.

The expanded workforce would include nine positions in a newly created division of planning and compliance, costing $1 million next year, to be staffed by engineers and technicians who would be tasked with ending the current “hit or miss basis” of operations.

Picco also recommends the creation of a new 13-employee communications and public outreach division, which would cost $595,000 next year. The division would handle all press releases, reports and communications with the public and the government agencies of the department’s customer base and would also oversee all collections for the department.

The budget increase would also provide for a down payment on needed capital projects that have been delayed for decades in some cases. These expenses include new flushing equipment, upgraded testing labs and new above-ground storage tanks to hold water that is now stored at the open-air Pennington reservoir.

Among the unfunded projects itemized in Picco’s report is state-mandated lead line replacement work, which will cost an estimated $200 million more over the next eight years. Utility officials are considering asking for an extension to a 2031 deadline to replace all lead service lines.

It is unclear who will pay for any budget increases or how much will be passed on to consumers. The report recommended hiring a rate consultant. While the report details current budget and proposed budget costs for the Trenton Water Works, it does not provide any information about current or projected revenue.

Picco’s report, commissioned by Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora and approved by the City Council in October 2023 for up to $100,000, was completed in September after being reviewed by state environmental officials. Gusciora distributed the report, which has not been published on the city’s website yet, to local mayors along with a cover letter dated Dec. 10.

“This report provides a clear roadmap for the future of TWW,” Gusciora said in the letter. “We are taking meaningful steps to ensure the long-term viability of this vital public resource.”

Gusciora, a former state lawmaker, was elected in 2018 partly on a promise to clean up the dysfunctional water works. Although Picco credits the agency with making some important steps forward in the past two years, including enacting a long overdue rate increase and encouraging New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection oversight, the Trenton Water Works has suffered embarrassing setbacks almost six years into Gusciora’s tenure.

Earlier this month, the utility revealed that a former employee faked water quality sampling reports for more than a year while sitting at home collecting overtime. The agency also acknowledged that federal agents are investigating whether a West Windsor firm contracted to replace lead pipes may have also faked some of the work.

Last week, Trenton Water Works informed customers that water samples in Hopewell Township exceeded permitted levels of trihalomethanes, a harmful chemical byproduct that can build up when chlorine disinfectant is added to river water.

“This has been an ongoing problem and a matter of real concern for residents here,” said Hopewell Township Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning. “Whatever they’re doing in Trenton clearly isn’t working.”

Peters-Manning said the Picco study, in addition to a series of more comprehensive reports expected from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection next month, will amount to a clear mandate for change that gives regional Trenton Water Works customers a greater say in the management of their most precious resource, clean water.

With significant growth in suburbs surrounding the state capital, the study points out, the city of Trenton is no longer the largest customer for the water it collects, treats and delivers.

“It’s vitally important for us in the service area to feel we have some real sense of control,” Peters-Manning said. “You know, if things were going swimmingly at the Water Works, it wouldn’t be a concern. But obviously, they’re not.”

Officials in surrounding communities, who have sued Trenton to force reforms at the water agency, said they were expecting more details to emerge in state-authored reports due in early 2025. While welcoming Picco’s study, they said they needed more explanation on several issues, including the persistent billing irregularities and water sampling glitches.

They also pointed out that Trenton modified residency requirements 10 years ago to allow for the hiring of workers from out of town if qualified candidates cannot be found locally.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Martin said. “But we’re going to be looking for a lot more detail on why some of these problems keep coming back.”