Real Science for Real People

Stormwater Utilities - An idea whose time has come?

 

By Dr. Beth Ravit

Most of us take stormwater for granted - until it causes something unpleasant to happen, such as flooding our basements. The problems we experience today began decades ago when our stormwater infrastructure was built. As urban areas were built out, the engineer's goal in designing sewer systems was to move stormwater as quickly as possible away from developed areas and into the discharge point (the Hackensack River). As more and more land was paved for development two things occurred simultaneously - there was less marsh left to absorb and store the stormwater and the volume of water moving through the storm sewers kept increasing. At a certain point there was no marsh storage capacity left and the volume of runoff was greater than the "plumbing" system was designed to handle. So today we have major flooding problems in many areas of the Meadowlands District, while raw sewage gets discharged into the Hackensack River through outdated Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs).

 

These problems are not unique to the Meadowlands, and in many sections of the country municipalities have established "Stormwater Utilities." The job of these utilities is to improve the management of stormwater. The goals set for each utility are decided locally, and vary from city to city. In some cases the main objective is to prevent flooding, while the goal for other utilities is to improve water quality through treatment to remove non-point source pollutants. There are now over 400 stormwater utilities located across the U.S., but NJ does not yet have such a utility. In forward thinking municipalities the Stormwater Utility is viewed as an integral part of managing one of our most precious resources - water. In these systems coordination of the three components of water management and control- drinking water systems, water treatment plants, and stormwater management - integrate overall water use, treatment, and recovery.

 

We know today that the existing stormwater infrastructure in the Meadowlands is not adequate to meet our needs. Last year the Meadowlands Commission completed an audit of water control structures in the District. This audit found that pipes, pumps, and tidegates have not been adequately maintained, and in many cases were non-functional (FEMA Floodplain Management Report). Capt. Bill Sheehan is a member of the Citizen Advisory Committee working to separate the CSO systems that discharge raw sewage into the river.