Telecom line reallocation triggers undetected sewer overflow at Evesham wastewater plant
Evesham Municipal Utilities Authority, New Jersey · Meeting date: June 3, 2026 · Published: June 4, 2026
A brief power interruption combined with disabled telecommunication lines caused a critical failure at the Elmwood Wastewater Treatment Plant in New Jersey, exposing the risks of maintaining legacy analog lines for emergency redundancy.
Key points
- A brief electrical blink knocked out plant equipment but was too short to trigger the facility's backup generator.
- Critical alarm notifications failed to transmit because Verizon had reallocated five of the utility's 'plain old telephone system' (POTS) lines due to perceived low usage.
- The utility is required by the local fire district to maintain the legacy POTS lines for redundancy, complicating the transition to modern fiber networks.
- In a separate incident, a contractor installing a water main struck an unexpectedly shallow gas line that was buried just six inches below the asphalt.
- The board also mandated project labor agreements for public works projects over $200,000.
Full report
A cascading electrical and communication failure at the Elmwood Wastewater Treatment Plant resulted in a sewer system overflow, highlighting the operational risks of relying on legacy telecommunications infrastructure.
During a June 3, 2026, meeting of the Evesham Municipal Utilities Authority, the utility's Executive Director, Jeff, detailed the incident. An "electrical blink" knocked out power to the plant's equipment, but the interruption was not long enough to signal the facility's backup generator to start.
While the plant's internal alarms activated, external notifications failed to transmit because the utility's phone lines had been disconnected. According to the Executive Director, Verizon had reallocated five of the plant's "plain old telephone system" (POTS) lines. Telecom providers occasionally repurpose low-usage lines for other services, which in this case inadvertently disabled the wastewater plant's emergency fail-safes.
Although telecom companies are broadly pushing customers to transition from POTS to fiber networks, the utility is caught in a regulatory bind. The local fire district mandates that the plant maintain POTS lines alongside modern connections to ensure communication redundancy. Staff worked late into the night with technicians to reclaim the numbers and restore the alarm system.
The board also received an update on a water main replacement project on King's Grant Drive. The project was temporarily shut down after a contractor's milling machine struck a South Jersey Gas main located just six inches below the asphalt. The gas line was originally installed in an unpaved area, but historical changes to the development's road layout resulted in the shallow line being paved over, bypassing the standard 24-inch depth requirement.
In other business, the board formally adopted the FY27 water and sewer budget and approved a resolution mandating project labor agreements for public works projects exceeding $200,000 to ensure the use of union personnel.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: Board Meeting, Evesham Municipal Utilities Authority