Most people don't think about where their water comes from.

They just turn on the spout and use it.

But what happens when the entity that controls your water supply starts failing?

That's what's happening in the Trenton region right now, where five cities and towns are trying to determine how to restructure the operation of Trenton Water Works, which a recent assessment shows is in crisis.

And they're getting pressure from the State Department of Environmental Protection, whose commissioner is pushing for a regionalization of the utility company.

Brad Goldberg has more on the proposed changes and the reactions to it.

It makes me want to tear my hair out.

That was three years ago, and the water situation in Trenton hasn't gotten much easier on Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin.

So while it's not all torn out, certainly there's less of it.

Though he still has hair, Martin is still worried about Trenton Water Works, which supplies water for more than 200,000 people.

The utility has earned scathing reviews from the Department of Environmental Protection, which has provided oversight here for about three years and has suggested they regionalize, essentially splitting control of the utility between these five municipalities.

Trenton Mayor Reid Gashoris says he'd be open to a study to figure out costs and benefits.

I have all along said that I'm in favor of this study and that what it means to Trentonians, what it means to the workforce that's there, how much it will cost, and what's the governance structure in the future.

I want to be, as the mayor of Hamilton, part of an entity that's going to provide clean and safe drinking water without anybody having a reservation of when they turn on the tap what they're getting.

Mayor Gashoris tells us he's not opposed to the idea of regionalizing.

He just thinks the DEP is being a little forceful about wanting Trenton to buy in.

Now it seems that they want to put the cart before the horse and demand regionalization without any regard to what Trentonians think or any evaluation of Trenton Water Works and what it means for Trentonians.

DEP Commissioner Sean Lazzarette visited the water treatment plant in mid-June and sent Trenton City Council a letter this week stating in part, "For the well-being of the city and the health and safety of all Trenton Water Works customers, DEP cannot encourage you strongly enough to proceed with restructuring or regionalization."

The roof of the water treatment plant is riddled with holes, with mold growing, clearly growing in the ceiling tiles.

This is unsafe for the workers.

You see electric cords draped over areas that are covered in water which they shouldn't be.

He's not an engineer and the system is probably the second oldest water system in the nation, but yet it still delivers water that meets all federal drinking standards.

Lazzarette testified about Trenton's water supply at an Assembly budget hearing in April where he offered a stark opinion on the Capitol's leadership.

My honest opinion is that the water system needs to be untied from the city government itself.

If we untie the city and then we're going to merge them with four other municipalities, who is the expertise?

You recruit it, you bring it in.

And why can't DEP do that now?

Because no one will work with the city of Trenton.

An anti-regionalization campaign has also begun in Trenton, tied to former councilwoman and mayoral candidate Robin Vaughn, who was often at odds with city administration with billboards like this earning the anger of people like Lazzarette.

People died from Legionnaires' disease in this area.

And that grassroots movement is motivated by former city council members with political axes to grind.

And it is deeply, deeply shameful.

Some places in New Jersey have sold off their water utilities to private companies, but these communities aren't interested in that.

What we're looking for is to buy shares in Trenton Water Works so that we have an ownership stake in it.

Why would you want to buy shares in something that you know is troubled, that you know has a lot of debt?

The status quo cannot continue.

So now what are our other options?

Trenton sent a reply to the DEP saying, quote, "The letter reads less as constructive oversight and more as an attempt to pressure the city into a predetermined outcome, without the due diligence or public engagement that such a consequential decision requires.

All this leaves Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin still wanting to tear his hair out, along with Trenton and the DEP at an impasse for how to handle the water supply going forward.

In Trenton, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

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