A recent revelation has brought to light a concerning issue regarding the drinking water in New Jersey's capital city and surrounding areas. Trenton Water Works, serving approximately 200,000 customers, admitted that water samples went untested for over a year due to falsified reports by a former employee.
The utility disclosed that a worker had manipulated reports related to monitoring disinfection byproducts, E. Coli, and other contaminants from October 2022 to December of the same year. This misconduct led to a significant number of invalid water samples during that period.
Although the employee responsible for the falsification was terminated, their identity remains undisclosed, and no charges have been filed against them. Trenton Water Works assured customers that the water is now safe and no immediate action is required on their part.
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora condemned the deceptive actions, describing them as 'inexcusable.' The matter has been escalated to state environmental authorities and subsequently to the state attorney general's office for further investigation.
Despite the delay in informing the public about the fraudulent reports, the city cited compliance with state Department of Environmental Protection regulations as the reason for the timing of the disclosure. Mayor Gusciora emphasized that there was no imminent threat to public health.
In response to this incident, Trenton Water Works has implemented enhanced supervision of sample collectors and additional procedures to adhere to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Measures such as installing GPS tracking devices on fleet vehicles for real-time monitoring have been put in place to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
