Edison residents tonight overwhelmingly voted against a deal negotiated between the office of Edison’s Mayor Thomas Lankey and Edison Environmental Partners, a joint venture between private water company Suez and investment company KKR.

The residents of the Middlesex County town instead want to retain community ownership and maintenance of the city’s drinking water and sewer treatment systems.

The vote was 8,874 in favor of public water ownership and nixing the mayor’s deal with Edison Environmental Partners and 1,637 against.

It was a huge loss for the mayor, who’s up for reelection in 2021 in a town where opponents are daily pawing the turf to take him on if he goes for a third term.

The special vote today occurred after almost 5,000 residents signed a petition.