New Jersey Municipalities Reveal First Look at Options To Keep Sewage Out of Local Rivers and Streets

Clean Waterways, Healthy Neighborhoods meeting on March 7 will debut proposed solutions to combined sewer overflows

NEWARK, March 5 — After several years of measuring and modeling, presentations will be made to the public for the first time on the solutions being evaluated to reduce the sewage overflows in Bayonne, East Newark, Guttenberg, Harrison, Kearny, Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, North Bergen Municipal Utilities Authority and the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) region at the Clean Waterways, Healthy Neighborhoods meeting on March 7 at the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority offices at 6:00 pm. In 21 communities around New Jersey, sewage overflows into local rivers and waterways or even backs up into streets and homes because of heavy rain and melting snow. This is toxic water from homes, businesses and runoff from roadways that never makes it to our water treatment facilities. These towns are currently working on Long Term Control Plans (LTCPs) to reduce or prevent this from happening.

This meeting is open to the public and residents and local business owners are encouraged to attend so they can participate and provide feedback. Solutions to this problem include costly, time-consuming and potentially disruptive construction. The Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers campaign, a coalition of community organizations coordinated across New Jersey, will be participating in all public meetings on this issue and encourage residents and other stakeholders to come out and have a voice in this process. In an appeal to the affected communities, the Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers campaign is asking for public meetings to be held in every one of these towns to ensure that residents are informed about the impacts of sewage overflows and have input into the plans that are being developed, their costs, and the benefits or impacts the plans will have in the community.

As part of a mandate by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the towns will be holding public meetings to inform residents and business owners about the process and to get input on solutions. Some towns, including Newark and Jersey City, already have public meetings planned. Newark People’s Assembly, in close partnership with community groups, and the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority are hosting a series of public meetings in March to discuss the impacts of these sewage overflow events and to get public feedback. You can find out more information on upcoming public meetings in the Events section of the Sewage-Free campaign website.

The meeting on March 7, hosted by PVSC, will be the kickoff event in this region, giving residents and business owners a first look at the plans in development. More information will be available on the Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers campaign website as community meetings are announced.

WHERE: North Jersey Transportation Authority Conference Room, 17th Floor, 1085 Raymond Blvd., Newark, NJ 07102

WHEN: Thursday, March 7, 6:00 – 8: 30 pm