Video podcast: Jeff Pillets discusses Trenton Water Works issues with Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin
Jersey Vindicator journalist Jeff Pillets joined Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin to discuss Trenton Water Works problems on a new podcast by Trenton resident Marc Leckington that debuted Jan. 16. Leckingtom publishes the Substack “From the Mains of Trenton.”
The conversation centers on Legionella bacteria, systemic failures within Trenton Water Works and the broader implications for public health and regional governance.
Martin described how Hamilton, the largest municipality served by Trenton Water Works, first detected elevated Legionella levels in 2020. “It’s not just about cloudy water,” he said. “We’re talking about serious health risks and a system that residents can’t trust.”
Legionella is a bacterium that can grow in poorly maintained water systems and is known to cause Legionnaires’ disease, a potentially fatal type of pneumonia. Multiple cases have been reported in recent years across the Trenton Water Works service area.
Complicating matters, a former Trenton Water Works employee allegedly falsified water quality tests for more than a year. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection found that 76% of chlorine residual samples were invalid during that period. DEP officials raised concerns that key data used to monitor public health risks had been compromised.
“It’s not just that the tests were faked,” said Pillets. “It’s that the city didn’t inform residents until nearly a year later.”
Leckington warns that the system remains at risk of catastrophic failure. “People don’t realize that we’re one pump failure or cold snap away from taps running dry,” he said.
Editor’s note: Jersey Vindicator photojournalist Andres Kudacki provided the photo of the Trenton Water Works that serves as the backdrop for most of the episode.
Krystal Knapp is the founder, executive director, and publisher of The Jersey Vindicator and the founder of Planet Princeton. She has more than two decades of experience reporting in New Jersey, including 10 years at The Trenton Times, where she was the newsroom’s public records and computer-assisted reporting expert. Her work has been recognized by the New Jersey Press Association and the Center for Cooperative Media. You can reach her at Krystal AT jerseyvindicator.org.