I am a Trenton Water Works customer, and some years ago, five, six, seven, who knows, there was a Trenton Water Works crisis of some sort or another — hard to keep track, honestly — and I happened to be outside when the water meter reader stopped by.

He was a younger fella, wearing some sort of Trenton Water Works shirt or vest or something, and he was pleasant in a “mind if I come in your backyard and read your meter” sort of way.

In short: He seemed amenable to conversation, so I lobbed a volley.

Now granted: I clearly have a fuzzy memory of the day, but the conversation that follows is 100% accurate.

“Do you drink the water?” I asked him.

“F*** no,” was his answer.

The next day, I placed a call to Crystal Springs, got a water dispenser for my kitchen, and now, every five days or so, I lug a five gallon jug of crystally, springy water inside my house, hook it up to the water dispenser, and don’t have to worry about the safety of my — and, more importantly, my family’s — drinking water.

I mean come on: When the guy who works for the utility says “mmm-mmm, nope, no way I’m drinking that stuff,” it’s hard to go flip the tap open and suck down Legionnaires’ disease or river sediment or heaven knows what else.

So that’s me.

And now, for seemingly the 100th time, that’s more or less the position of every politician who constituents depend on Trenton Water Works for clean, safe drinking water.

They issued a strongly-worded press release the other day, led off my Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin.

“The residents of Hamilton have suffered far too long due to the failures of Trenton Water Works and left us with absolutely no confidence in their ability to operate the utility,” Martin said. “The Trenton City Council’s refusal to authorize public safety projects is putting people’s lives in danger and has prevented TWW’s ability to provide safe and clean drinking water. I call on the Governor and the State of New Jersey to immediately place TWW under direct state control to end the years of gross incompetence.”

To be clear: This isn’t a new issue. Back in 1977 the Trenton Water Works entered into an Administrative Consent Order with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection due to issues at the plant. And it’s constantly been a headache.

Things have been compounded in recent years by the Trenton City Council, which can charitably be described as “not so great.”

Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora, in a statement, agrees with that assessment.

“Despite the efforts of City Council to undermine TWW as a utility of the City of Trenton, I welcome working in tandem with the State DEP to resolve any outstanding issues and ensure safe drinking water for our consumers for years to come,” he said.

Well, the only way that’s going to happen is to not work in tandem with the State DEP.

It’s time — and it’s been time, time and time again — for the DEP to take over the Trenton Water Works, at least in the short-term. (Short-term = as long as it takes to get it up to snuff.)

After that, there should be something written in stone that takes the Trenton Water Works out of the hands of the council, and, for that matter, the mayor. It should be independently operated, with funding guaranteed no matter what any half-wit politician has to say.

In short: The Trenton Water Works should never be used for politics.

I don’t think access to safe, clean drinking water should be something that’s trifled with. I know, I’m such a bleeding heart, but so be it.

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Originally Appeared Here