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Debate rages over control of TWW City officials fight back as state pushes for water utility’s overhaul BY BILL SANSERVINO
Ewing High junior Noah Williams of takes a kick during a game as his teammates look on from the sideline.
Williams brings voice and vision to EHS soccer defense BY JUSTIN FEIL
Noah Williams is talented enough to play up front for the Ewing High School boys’ soccer team. The Blue Devils are keeping the junior in the back because that’s where they need him most.
“His vocalness and just his awareness of the game and the pace of the game, he knows when to slow it down, when to speed it up,” said Ewing coach DJ Zedalis. “He’s vocal, aware and just skilled, like one of the best players that I could really honestly say that I’ve worked
with.” Williams will slot in at center back when he returns this month from an injury. He started at left back his freshman and sophomore years before moving into the center midway through last season. He also plays a defensive See SOCCER, Page 24
Simmering tensions over the future of Trenton Water Works boiled over in August as city leaders resisted mounting pressure to relinquish sole control of the troubled utility. The state Department of Environmental Protection says the 200-year-old utility — serving more than 225,000 people in Trenton and four neighboring towns — is teetering on the brink of failure. Officials from the state and surrounding towns argue it must be restructured. But city leaders, residents and water employees are pushing back, citing fears of lost autonomy, job security and community control. TWW serves all of Trenton and Ewing, and portions of Hamilton, Lawrence and Hopewell townships. The DEP has had a continuous presence at the plant since 2022 under a Unilateral Administrative Order, which gave the state
temporary operational oversight. The regionalization plan calls for the creation of a new public utility that would operate the system. Each member municipality would be represented on the governing board, with voting power proportional to water usage — a model similar to the Ewing-Lawrence Sewage Authority. DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette appeared before Trenton City Council on Aug. 18 to discuss TWW’s future. He pleaded with Trenton officials to approve a state-supported study of options with an eye toward regionalization. The meeting descended into a fiery, emotional forum as council members accused LaTourette of strong-arming the city and dismissing their efforts to stabilize the utility. Some of the reporting in this article is based on a video review of the meeting by the Ewing Observer, which was posted by the City of Trenton. “This is personal for me,” Councilwoman Teska Frisby told the commissioner, defending the city’s minority workforce at the plant. “You have beautiful Black peoSee TWW, Page 8
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