Trenton Water Works once again shut down its filtration plant in December after a buildup of frazil ice clogged the raw water intake. It was a failure that mirrored an incident nearly a year earlier, and one that state regulators warned could happen again.
The N.J. Department of Environmental Protection confirmed the shutdown in a letter to the city on Dec. 12, and advised that customers conserve water.
But the City of Trenton did not immediately notify residents or suburban communities served by the system. A public water conservation advisory wasn’t made until Dec. 18, and that notice did not mention that the treatment plant had been shut down for several hours.
Frazil ice is a slushy accumulation of tiny, sticky ice crystals that form in supercooled, turbulent water (like rivers in winter), appearing as slush or small needles. It can block water intakes by adhering to submerged structures, growing and bridging gaps in screens, effectively clogging water flow into water treatment systems.
Instead of hearing from TWW, many people first learned about the shutdown, the conservation directive and the underlying risks through an independently run Substack blog called From the Mains of Trenton.
The blog, which also sends out an email newsletter, has become a widely read source of information about Trenton Water Works, frequently reporting regulatory correspondence, inspection reports and system vulnerabilities that otherwise go unaddressed publicly.
The website states that it is “dedicated to uncovering the truth behind one of the most urgent — and underreported — public health crises in New Jersey: the slow-motion collapse of Trenton Water Works.”
The blog is essentially the work of one person, Trenton resident Marc Leckington. He says that the mission of his site is to explain what is happening inside the water system, connect regulatory findings that are often scattered across agencies, and give residents the context needed to understand both the immediacy and the long-term implications of continued system failures.
He has also announced that he will be releasing a monthly video focused entirely on Trenton Water Works. Each episode will be published on Substack and distributed across major podcast platforms.
Leckington is no stranger to navigating complicated government issues, a skill developed over years of working within city government and advising public agencies on complex regulatory matters.
He is president of Leckington Advisors LLC, where he assists municipalities, nonprofit organizations and developers with the implementation and administration of HUD entitlement grants, New Jersey’s Uniform Housing Affordability Controls and Fair Share Housing obligations.
His work has included administering more than $200 million in housing and community development grants and authoring best-practice manuals on regulatory compliance.
Prior to launching his firm, Leckington served for seven years as chief of housing production for the City of Trenton and previously spent nearly two decades as vice president of Community Grants & Planning Inc., a housing and grants consulting firm.
For more than 10 years, Leckington has taught courses at the Rutgers University Center for Government Services as part of the Affordable Housing Professionals Certification program. He also serves on the board of the Affordable Housing Professionals of New Jersey and has chaired policy and training initiatives.
Leckington has also been deeply involved in his community. He has been involved with FreedomNJ, a Trenton-based nonprofit that provides safe places for city youth to skateboard. His personal connection to the area dates back to childhood years when he grew up in Ewing Township and graduated from Ewing High School.
His background, which blends regulatory experience with many years of civic involvement, now helps to inform Leckington’s scrutiny of Trenton Water Works.
In a wide-ranging interview with Communitynews.org editor Bill Sanservino, Leckington discussed how he became involved in covering the utility, what first alarmed him about the system’s condition, and why he believes public awareness is critical to preventing a larger crisis.
The interview, which is printed below in Q&A form, has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Let’s start with some background. Tell me a little about yourself.
A: I grew up in Ewing. When I was young, my grandfather was the superintendent of the Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf in Ewing, and when my dad was in Vietnam, I lived at the school in the superintendent’s house.
During my childhood, my grandparents used to bring me over to Cadwalader Park to play and feed the animals.
Later, in my early 30s, I bought the house across the street from the park where I used to go as a kid. My wife and I have lived there for about 20 years now, and we’ve both been pretty active in the Hiltonia neighborhood.
Q: Before Trenton Water Works became an issue for you, how involved were you in the community?
A: I’ve been pretty active, though not always in traditional political ways. I’m a lifelong skateboarder, and several years ago some friends and I started working on a project to try to build a skate park in Trenton.
That actually goes back to when I was still working for the city. Someone in the economic development department approached me and said there was a property down by the Assunpink Creek that could be a really good skate park site. We ran with it and started talking to the neighborhood in East Trenton to build support.
The first time we went to pitch the idea at a neighborhood meeting, people genuinely didn’t understand what we were talking about. They thought we meant roller skating or ice skating. At one point, someone said there weren’t any skateboarders in their neighborhood.
We left that meeting thinking we were going to make skateboarders in that neighborhood. A few months later, we started holding pop-up skate sessions at a local park. We brought ramps, free skateboards, helmets and food, and taught kids how to skate every Saturday morning. It took off.
Two years later, the same neighborhood group was being shown a concept design for a permanent skate park at that site. One of the people who originally questioned the idea told me about playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater (a skaterboarding video game) with her grandson. That project is now expected to break ground soon.
That experience showed me how grassroots efforts can succeed even when formal systems move slowly.
Q: So, when did Trenton Water Works first catch your attention?
A: What really triggered my interest was the release of the initial DEP reports last December. The TMF report and the 360 report came out around the same time, and when I started reading them closely, I found the findings unbelievable.
I also started reading coverage by a Jeff Pillets from the New Jersey Vindicator, who was reporting on the issue in depth.
Then Erin Brockovich (the environmental activist portrayed by Julia Roberts in the Academy Award-winning film Erin Brockovich) wrote an editorial in The Trentonian last January that framed the problem as one that required community awareness and engagement.
That really pushed me to dive back into the reports and start sharing what I was finding with neighbors.
Q: At first, how were you sharing that information?
A: It started on a neighborhood email list, mostly in Hiltonia. I would screenshot sections of reports, link to inspection letters and try to explain pieces in plain language. The list had about 250 people on it, including the mayor (Reed Gusciora).
There was a lot of back and forth. The mayor would sometimes respond and try to dismiss concerns, and I would counter with documentation. It created ongoing discussion, especially throughout last summer.
Q: When did you realize it needed to go beyond that email list?
A: That happened around National Night Out (in August) last summer. People started coming up to me at the event and saying this information needed to be shared more broadly. One person, who had previously worked as a press secretary for DEP and in state government, pulled me aside and told me very directly that I needed to put this out publicly.
She gave me ideas on how to repackage the information and dig deeper. About a week later, the first From the Mains of Trenton post went live.
Q: What was frustrating you most at that point?
A: The thing that bothered me most was that there were world-class consultants producing these reports, and almost no one was paying attention. The information was there, but it wasn’t being explained or connected in a way people could understand.
I felt like someone needed to take all of that technical material and tell the story of what it actually meant for residents.
Q: You started getting feedback once the Substack went live. What kind of response were you seeing early on?
A: At first, it was fairly quiet publicly, but I would get private messages and emails from people saying, “Keep doing this. This is really helpful.” There weren’t a lot of comments, but there was a lot of one-on-one feedback.
People would tell me they had no idea these reports existed or that DEP had issued certain warnings. That told me there was a real information gap.
Q: You cover a lot of technical material. How do you approach making it understandable?
A: I try to break it into small, digestible pieces. A lot of what DEP releases is written by engineers for other engineers. There’s never really a resident or consumer in mind when those letters and reports are written.
What I do is take something from a report, then find related inspection letters or follow-up correspondence that adds context. Often the most important information is scattered across multiple documents on different parts of the DEP website.
Q: I’ve heard stories when doing my own coverage of Trenton Water Works about people not only being afraid of drinking the water, but even using it for pets or showering. What do you make of that level of concern?
A: I don’t blame them at all. When it gets to the point where people don’t want to give the water to their pets, that tells you trust has completely eroded.
If you’re immuno-compromised, there are legitimate reasons to be cautious about showering, especially in the summer. Legionella spreads through mist, not ingestion. There have been assisted living facilities in the region that dealt with Legionella issues for months.
(Editor’s note: Trenton Water Works has been under state oversight following multiple cases of Legionnaires’ disease — including at least three deaths — linked to its service area since late 2022. The potentially fatal respiratory infection is caused by the Legionella bacteria. DEP investigators found that while water leaving the treatment plant generally met standards, conditions within the aging distribution system created risks for Legionella growth. State reports also identified significant deficiencies in water quality testing and system management during portions of the outbreak period.)
When people realize that their water system has a body count, it fundamentally changes how they think about it.
Although the reports that the water leaving the filtration plant meet standards are technically true, I believe they’re also misleading. That’s not the core problem.
The real problem is what happens after that water leaves the plant. There are 683 miles of pipe in the Trenton Water Works system. Legionella thrives in stagnant water, especially in older infrastructure.
If you’re at the end of a line that doesn’t get flushed regularly, or if you’re in a building or part of a home that doesn’t see a lot of water use, that water can sit for long periods, and that creates risk.
Q: Can you explain how that risk develops?
A: When water is treated with chlorine, it creates byproducts. Those byproducts can actually contribute to Legionella growth when water sits in pipes.
There was a situation in Hopewell that’s a good example. There was a dead-end water line near a shopping center that kept testing positive for Legionella. Eventually, they installed an automatic flusher so the line would clear itself regularly.
If you’re in a building with low water usage, or you turn on a shower that hasn’t been used in months and create a lot of steam, that’s an opportunity for exposure.
Q: Why doesn’t this seem to happen as often in other systems?
A: It does happen elsewhere, but not at this scale. You’ll sometimes hear officials try to compare Trenton’s situation to Legionella outbreaks tied to HVAC systems in other cities. That’s a completely different scenario.
There have been water systems in New Jersey with Legionella issues, but I’m not aware of others that have resulted in deaths in the way Trenton has experienced. That’s a significant distinction.
Q: One of the things you’ve highlighted is how data accuracy problems compounded the Legionella crisis. Can you explain that?
A: During the Legionella outbreak period, it later came out that about 76 percent of the water quality tests used did not meet testing standards. That means regulators and the city were making decisions with flawed data during an active public health crisis.
DEP had warned the city months earlier that conditions existed that could lead to Legionella. A month later, cases began appearing. But if you read the inspection reports, there’s never a moment where those warnings are explicitly connected to what happened.
Q: So, the dots are never connected.
A: Exactly. DEP letters are very clinical and institutional. They’re written for engineers and bureaucrats, not residents. There’s no effort to explain consequences in plain language or to say, “We told you this would happen.”
Part of what I’m trying to do is take all of those documents and connect them into a coherent story people can understand. So that the “dots” are connected.
Q: How much of your reporting relies on public records from DEP?
A: Almost all of it. If it weren’t for DEP’s website, I’d have a fraction of the content. They post inspection reports, correspondence, enforcement actions. The city often says very little, so DEP documents become the primary source of information.
The challenge is that the state’s website isn’t designed to help people connect information. You have to know where to look and how to piece it together.
Q: How do you manage that volume of information?
A: I use AI tools mostly. I’ll upload multiple reports and letters and query them for specific topics. That allows me to pull relevant excerpts quickly and then build a narrative around them.
Without that, it would take a team of researchers to go through everything manually.
Q: As a reporter, I’ve run into similar challenges trying to translate technical materials. I really worry about making sure that I’m accurate. Do you ever worry about getting something wrong?
A: Absolutely. That’s always a concern. These are complex systems, and even professionals are still trying to understand certain aspects. I’d rather slow down or hold off on a post than oversimplify something to the point of being inaccurate. Some topics are extremely difficult to explain without expert input.
Orthophosphate and pipe corrosion control is one topic I’ve struggled with, for example. It’s very technical, and I haven’t yet found a way to explain it simply without involving a scientist.
That’s one reason I’m interested in expanding into longer-form conversations and interviews (the planned video podcast), where there’s more room for nuance.
Q: You’ve been critical of how information is communicated to the public by the city and the state. What’s missing right now?
A: Transparency and context. Residents often learn about problems months after the fact, buried in regulatory letters. People should not be finding out through obscure documents that the water system was compromised weeks earlier. That undermines trust.
Q: How does that lack of trust affect the system overall?
A: Once trust is gone, people stop believing reassurances, even when they’re accurate. That’s where Trenton Water Works is now. People don’t trust what’s coming out of City Hall, so they rely on bottled water, filtration systems and word of mouth. That’s not sustainable.
Q: You’ve said before that people misunderstand the nature of the risk. Can you explain that?
A: Most people think the worst-case scenario is discolored water or a bad smell. They don’t imagine a situation where the water simply doesn’t come out of the tap.
That’s the scenario I’m trying to get people to understand. The system is fragile enough that a prolonged shutdown could lead to severe shortages.
Q: How realistic is a scenario where people actually turn on the tap and no water comes out?
A: It’s very realistic. During the most recent frazil ice shutdown, if you read DEP’s letter carefully, you’ll see that the Pennington Reservoir dropped to below normal operating levels while the plant was offline.
Q: Why is the reservoir so critical?
A: The reservoir is noncompliant with federal standards because it’s uncovered. That’s been known for years. But it also serves as a crucial buffer. When there are power outages or plant shutdowns, that reservoir keeps water flowing. It’s saved the system multiple times, far more often than the public realizes.
During the recent frazil ice shutdown, the reservoir level dropped rapidly. That should alarm people.
At the same time, there were multiple water main breaks across the system, bleeding water continuously.
The interconnections with neighboring systems only supply a fraction of daily demand. I believe it’s about 11 million gallons per day, while average demand is closer to 28 million gallons per day. So maybe the system doesn’t go completely dry, but pressure drops significantly. Showering becomes uncomfortable. Basic use becomes difficult.
But we’re not far from a scenario where the National Guard is distributing water. I don’t think that’s alarmist. I think that’s a very real possibility this winter.
Q: That’s a level of urgency people doesn’t usually worry about when they’re thinking about their water. I mean it’s something that is essential to life.
A: Exactly. People assume water will always be there. They may complain about taste or cost, but they don’t imagine it simply not working. That’s the mental shift that hasn’t happened yet.
Q: What’s the long-term plan for the reservoir?
A: The plan is to eventually decommission it, but not anytime soon. The city plans to build a concrete water tower across the street that will replace a portion of its capacity. They’re also purchasing land in Hamilton for another tower, plus two additional sites elsewhere in the system.
But none of that is close. They just closed on the Hamilton property. There’s no design work, no permitting, no DEP approvals yet. Building any one of those towers will take years.
Q: So the reservoir stays online in the meantime.
A: Yes, and because it’s uncovered, it’s vulnerable. It’s finished water that has to be treated again as it reenters the system. It’s stagnant water, which creates conditions for bacterial growth, including Legionella. It’s another example of how the system relies on stopgap solutions rather than long-term fixes.
Q: You’ve pointed to City Hall repeatedly as a major obstacle. Can you explain what you mean by that?
A: When you step back and look at how projects move through Trenton, it’s clear there are systemic problems. From zoning and planning approvals to purchasing and procurement, there are multiple opportunities for delays at every stage.
I’ve heard countless stories from developers who’ve tried to get projects approved in Trenton. They show up to planning board meetings with their professionals only to find the doors locked. The meeting was canceled because there’s no quorum. That can happen repeatedly, pushing projects back months.
That same dysfunction affects Trenton Water Works projects.
Q: How does that play out when it comes to TWW?
A: Look at the history of RFPs issued to support the water utility (Editor’s note: An RFP, or request for proposals, is a formal document a government agency issues to solicit bids from qualified firms to perform a specific project or service.)
Many RFP’s have had to be rebid because of basic flaws in the original scope of work. Instead of fixing those flaws quickly, the city lets the bid expire and then reissues it, restarting the clock.
That’s exactly what happened with the water intake engineering RFP (Editor’s note: this would have corrected the frazil ice situation).
DEP discovered after the fact that it hadn’t been given an opportunity to review the scope and found an error with it. Eventually, DEP had to write the scope itself. Now the city is rejecting the original proposal again and starting over. Each misstep adds months.
Q: Council is rejecting a bid tied to the intake work?
A: Yes. The resolution on the agenda for tonight’s meeting (on Dec. 16) is to reject the sole proposal received under the flawed RFP. That proposal should never have been solicited in the first place because the scope didn’t meet DEP’s minimum requirements.
DEP flagged that in October. The corrected RFP wasn’t reissued until December. That’s lost time, and time is something the system doesn’t have.
Editor’s note: TWW announced on Dec. 22 that it had issued an RFP from engineering firms to assess the design and construction of the raw water intake and recommend improvements to its current design, hydraulic performance, and support systems.
Q: Is funding for projects also part of the problem?
A: No. Funding is not the issue. The city is sitting on bond proceeds that haven’t been drawn down. There are state financing programs available. There’s even room to raise rates further than the 14% rate increase they’re talking about now and still be below comparable private utilities.
The problem is staffing and execution. There aren’t enough middle managers. There aren’t enough engineers on staff to develop projects internally. That creates reliance on consultants and slows everything down.
Q: You’ve talked about staffing restrictions. Can you explain that?
A: For years, Trenton required water utility employees to live in the city. That made it extremely difficult to recruit qualified staff.
The mayor acknowledged this problem last December (2024) and talked about changing the ordinance. It took months to produce a proposed revision, and when it finally appeared, it was poorly written and then pulled the same night it was introduced.
As of now, there’s been no replacement ordinance. That’s another example of how even acknowledged problems remain unresolved.
Q: What’s your impression of the staff currently working at Trenton Water Works?
A: I actually have a lot of confidence in them. I’ve heard them speak at public forums, and their credentials are impressive. Many could leave tomorrow and earn significantly more elsewhere.
They’re working extraordinary amounts of overtime to keep the system running. They’re filling gaps created by vacancies. That dedication is one of the few things that gives me hope.
Q: But you’ve also mentioned issues with past management.
A: Yes. Historically, the water utility was sometimes used as a landing spot for political patronage. That created long-term problems that still echo today. You can’t fix decades of mismanagement overnight, but you also can’t keep delaying necessary reforms.
Q: You’ve written critically about City Council’s role. What concerns you most?
A: There have been moments where critical operational decisions were politicized. Several years ago, the mayor was dealing with a hostile city council. Members have questioned why they should approve spending on infrastructure that serves customers outside Trenton.
Those kinds of statements ignore the reality that Trenton Water Works is a regional utility. Decisions like purchasing treatment chemicals or making emergency repairs should never be subject to political leverage.
Q: How does that tie into the governance discussion?
A: It’s one of the reasons regionalization keeps coming up. A different governance structure could insulate operations from political interference and make routine decisions automatic rather than contentious.
Q: Regionalization has become a charged term. How do you approach that conversation?
A: Carefully. The word itself triggers fear. People assume it means privatization or loss of control. Officials refer to it as “The R word.”
What DEP actually asked for was a study to explore what regionalization could look like. That study was never brought to a vote. Instead, a different, more limited study was approved that avoids even using the term.
Q: Why do you think there’s such resistance?
A: There’s a lot of distrust and a lot of conspiracy thinking. People worry Trenton will lose its asset or that suburban towns will take over. But those outcomes can be prevented through governance design. You can structure a regional authority so Trenton maintains majority control and privatization is prohibited.
Q: Has that study moved forward?
A: Not in the way DEP originally envisioned. The current study focuses on asset valuation rather than governance. The scope hasn’t been released publicly.
What concerns me is that DEP is now relying on the city to manage the RFP process for a study DEP is funding. Given the city’s track record with procurement, that’s troubling.
Q: You’ve said delay increases the risk of privatization. Why?
A: Because if the system fails catastrophically, there won’t be time for studies or careful planning. Emergency legislation could hand the system over to a private utility immediately. If regionalization were pursued proactively, it could take years to implement. We don’t have that luxury if another major failure occurs.
Q: You mentioned the lawsuit filed by the surrounding municipalities. How does that fit into everything we’ve been talking about?
(Editor’s note: All of the towns served by TWW have filed a lawsuit against the city of Trenton, seeking court intervention over longstanding operational and governance failures at the utility and raising the prospect of structural changes to how the system is managed.)
A: I think the lawsuit is really about pressure. It’s a way for the towns to force movement. It already led to administrative orders from the state, and then a second administrative order after the city failed to complete the first one.
Because the city didn’t comply with either order, the judge allowed discovery to reopen and lifted the stay on the case. We’re in discovery now, and that process alone is going to take a year.
Q: So there’s no quick resolution coming from the courts.
A: No. Even if the case runs its full course, state law doesn’t really provide a clear remedy. There’s no statute that allows a court to force regionalization. To do that would likely require new legislation. So even a “win” in court doesn’t magically fix the system. It just keeps pressure on the city and the state.
Q: You’ve also pointed out a lack of responsiveness to DEP directives.
A: That’s one of the most troubling patterns. DEP has repeatedly identified problems and issued requirements. Those requirements are often met with delays, partial compliance or, in some cases, no response at all. If you read DEP’s inspection reports over time, you can see the same issues raised again and again. That’s not because DEP isn’t clear. It’s because the city hasn’t acted.
Q: You’ve said before that the most likely outcome may not be regionalization at all.
A: Unfortunately, yes. I think the most likely outcome, if nothing changes, is privatization. We don’t have the luxury of time. If the system fails in a major way, the response won’t be another study.
It will be emergency legislation that hands the system to a private operator like American Water or Aqua. Those companies have the capacity and resources to step in immediately. That’s what makes them the default option in a crisis.
Q: You’ve talked a lot about public awareness. What are you ultimately trying to accomplish with the website?
A: The goal is to activate people. Most residents don’t realize how close the system is to a real failure. I’m trying to help people understand that possibility, because that’s when people act.
Q: What does that action look like to you?
A: It looks like people showing up. It looks like 500 people at a City Council meeting. It looks like residents in Ewing, Hamilton and Lawrence demanding answers and accountability. Nothing changes in Trenton unless there’s sustained public pressure.
Q: You’ve made an effort to help people engage.
A: Yes. I’ve written posts explaining how to attend a council meeting, how to sign up to speak, what to expect when you get there. Those things sound basic, but they matter.
I also try to flag upcoming meetings and explain why they’re important. For example, during the most recent plant shutdown, council members learned about it from my Substack, not from the city. That shouldn’t happen.
Q: But you honestly think that a real crisis is what it’s going to take?
A: I hope it doesn’t, but I think that’s the reality. I’d love for a post to go viral, for national attention to descend on the issue, for outside pressure to force action.
But history tells me it’s more likely to take a major disruption — days without water, National Guard trucks on the street — before people fully grasp the stakes.
Q: I’ve heard some people compare Trenton’s situation to Flint, Michigan. Is that a fair comparison?
A: No. They’re very different. Flint involved deliberate decisions tied to political and financial interests that poisoned the water supply.
Trenton’s problem is dysfunction, underinvestment, staffing shortages and bureaucratic failure. It’s serious, but it’s solvable. That distinction matters, because it means there’s still time to fix this if people act.
Q: You allow readers to support the site financially. How does that work?
A: It’s completely voluntary. Paid subscriptions don’t unlock special content. It’s really just a way for people to say they value the work.
I’ve been humbled by the response. People I don’t even know have signed up for annual subscriptions. It’s reassuring, if nothing else.
Q: Is there anything we haven’t covered that you think is important?
A: Just that this isn’t about fearmongering. It’s about transparency. People deserve to know what’s happening with their water system. Once they understand that, they can decide how to respond.
And that’s really what From the Mains of Trenton is about.