The letter is grim. It warns that Trenton’s water utility does not possess the technical, managerial or financial capacity to avert a possible “catastrophic failure,” of its water system.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, Commissioner Shawn LaTourette signed it on July 29, 2025 . He’d made an unannounced visit to the utility’s water treatment plant on June 18 and was not impressed.

“The observations made during this three-hour site visit were deeply troubling and conformed with the independent findings of historic neglect, underinvestment, and an unsupported and ill-equipped TWW workforce,” he wrote.

The letter then urged the city to consider a regional water authority for Trenton Water Works, as the utility is known, and to give the other towns it serves a seat

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