November 18, 2020

What’s Next for the CSO Plans?

Now that the plans are public they are being reviewed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the public until January 31. After the review, the NJDEP will respond to the permit holders with their comments and negotiations will influence the cost, timeline, projects, etc.  Now is the time to review and submit comments on your town’s CSO Long Term Control Plans (LTCP). Over the next month, the Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers campaign will release fact sheets on the plans and will host a two-day workshop to assist community groups with reviewing the plans and developing comments. Details on the workshop and fact sheets are in this newsletter.

Community Driven Solutions to Sewage Overflow Plans Workshop

Thursday, January 7, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm and Friday, January 8, 10:00 am - noon. Register here. Do you need help reviewing your town’s combined sewer overflow Long Term Control Plan?  The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is accepting comments on the plans until January 31. Community voices are needed to ensure that the proposed projects, timelines, and costs are the best solutions for your municipality.  This two-day workshop will explain the overarching issues addressed in each of the plans, like financing and green infrastructure, followed by breakout groups to discuss the specific proposals for each of the municipal and regional plans. Participants will leave with draft comments and guidance to finalize your comments. This workshop will help you understand the basics of the CSO LTCPs as well as the new CSO permit process. Learn more here.

Get the Facts on the Plans to Stop Sewage Overflows

Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers partners along with members of the Jersey Water Works CSO Committee have been busy reviewing the Long Term Control Plans. The information gathered from these reviews is being used to develop two-page fact sheets on municipal and regional plans from the hundred-plus page reports. The goal of the fact sheets is to make the information in these reports more accessible to the public and to assist community members in submitting comments. Learn more here.

Jersey Water Works Report Released "Wells of Opportunity: Training Residents and Prioritizing Local Hiring for Water Infrastructure Projects in Newark"

In the face of generational demands for water infrastructure investment, along with relatively high levels of unemployment, the City of Newark has instituted training programs to help bolster its water workforce. This report, produced by the Jersey Water Works CSO Committee, features two sections: 1) Newark’s Lead Service Line Apprenticeship Program 2) Newark’s Green Infrastructure Training Programs. Newark’s Long Term Control Plan is expected to feature green infrastructure projects and will begin implementation in 2021.These programs can serve as models for other cities throughout New Jersey, and even the nation, that also seek to benefit from both training and prioritizing their local workforce to tackle water infrastructure challenges. Learn more here.

Register for the Sixth Annual Jersey Water Works Conference

The virtual conference will be held over three days, December 9 to December 11. There are two sessions specifically related to combined sewer overflow (CSO) Long Term Control Plans on Friday, Dec. 11.  Workshop: Affordable Funding Approaches for Combined Sewer Solutions  Implementing CSO Long Term Control Plans will result in significant environmental and public health improvements. However, these projects will be expensive. How can municipalities and utilities with combined sewer systems pay for these plans in ways that are affordable for utilities and communities? Learn how cities have a variety of funding mechanisms, including stormwater and hook-up fees, subsidized loans from state programs like the NJ Infrastructure Bank, non-traditional sources for open space, and hazard mitigation to reduce the cost of these crucial upgrades.   Workshop: Building Our Water Workforce Pipeline A growing portion of the water workforce will retire within the next several years, creating both a challenge to fill these critical positions and an opportunity to increase the diversity of the sector. At the same time, addressing New Jersey’s crumbling water infrastructure will create additional jobs across the state—especially in environmental justice communities. Now is the time to focus both on preparing community members for these jobs and ensuring that there is a pipeline to employers who are hiring. Register here.

CREWS in the News

The Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers campaign is funded by a generous grant from The Kresge Foundation to New Jersey Future. As part of an initiative that funds 24 grantees, the Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) initiative is a program working to transform stormwater and wastewater systems with climate-resilient water management practices that emphasize equity. This month we are featuring the work of another CREWS member, Gabriella Velardi Ward of the Coalition for Wetlands and Forests in Staten Island, NY and this great article that was in the New York Times about her fight to protect wetlands on Staten Island.

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Upcoming Events

Sixth Annual Jersey Water Works Conference December 9 to December 11

Community Driven Solutions to Sewage Overflow Plans Workshop January 7 to January 8

About This Campaign

Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers is an action-oriented campaign that empowers community organizations to engage residents and small business owners to shape the solutions that will be adopted in July 2020 to reduce localized flooding and the raw sewage dumped into our waterways. It is organized by its partners and an advisory board, with the support of New Jersey Future.

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