Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer: City's Water Problems Were Years In The Making

HOBOKEN, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Hoboken's mayor said the city's recent water woes have their roots in a contract signed two decades ago.

Several water main breaks and leaks last week left part of the city without water and forced the officials to issue a boil water advisory.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer said Wednesday that the city's aging water infrastructure has been neglected for decades. Zimmer said a contract signed by city officials in the 1990s was "unbelievably shortsighted" and put off improvements in favor of plugging budget gaps.

Zimmer said a deal between the city and United Water was supposed to reap up to $100 million in profit for Hoboken over 30 years. Instead, she said, the city saw about $13 million up until 2001.

A United Water spokesman didn't immediately a message seeking comment.

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