By Greg Gorman • ggorman@embargmail.com
The 2020 New Jersey Scientific Report on Climate Change forecasts precipitation in New Jersey to increase 4% to 11% by 2050. The intensity and frequency of storms is also anticipated to increase. Many NJ communities either don’t have a stormwater management system in place or have one that is not able to adequately absorb, capture, or convey stormwater. Stormwater carries with it oil, pesticides, other chemicals, sediments, and bacteria that may contaminate state waters. New Jersey has a major challenge to avoid the consequences of flooding and water pollution, which are compounded by sea level rise.
Aging Infrastructure
Historically, communities have used “gray infrastructure”—systems of gutters, pipes, and tunnels—to move stormwater away from where we live to treatment plants or straight to local water bodies. The gray infrastructure in many areas is aging, and its capacity to manage large volumes of stormwater is decreasing. Systems that filter and absorb stormwater where it falls are known as “green infrastructure.” In 2019, Congress enacted the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act, which defines green infrastructure as “the range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store, infiltrate, or evaporate (evapotranspiration) stormwater and reduce flows to sewer systems or to surface waters.”
In 2021, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) adopted a revised set of stormwater regulations that affect land development practices within the state. The revised rules encourage and sometimes require the use of decentralized green infrastructure practices. In conjunction with these new standards, the DEP also released a revision to the “NJ Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual,” which offers guidance on compliance with stormwater management rules that are mandatory for major new developments. The revised document also describes state-of-the-art stormwater control and stormwater pollutant removal. However, one barrier to effective management is the high cost of corrective action. DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said approximately $1 billion in green infrastructure project growth could be supported in the state’s 2022 to 2023 fiscal cycle.
Funding Mechanism
In 2019, the Clean Stormwater and Flood Reduction Act authorized NJ municipalities, counties, and certain authorities to establish stormwater utilities with an appropriate funding mechanism. In 2020, the nonprofit New Jersey Future established the Stormwater Utility Resource Center to provide tools to establish an affordable and effective community stormwater utility. Its website provides, among other resources, case studies, newsletters, a model ordinance, and presentations from consultants who helped municipalities in neighboring states adopt stormwater utilities. Unfortunately, after three years, although a few NJ municipalities have explored the opportunity, none has taken advantage of this law and created a stormwater utility.
Recently, a collaboration of eight newsrooms and other media organizations have taken the initiative to report on solutions to the pressing issues of flooding and stormwater management, primarily in the Passaic River basin but also throughout northern New Jersey. Supported by the Solutions Journalism Network, the Stormwater Matters project seeks to advance the conversation on stormwater management by exploring solutions for New Jersey and other communities.
The NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club applauds these activities. With the resources of the DEP and Stormwater Utility Resource Center, supplemented by real-time reporting offered by the Stormwater Matters project, developers and planners will be able to better address the challenges of adapting to climate change.
Resources
Climate change report: bit.ly/3iidaKH
Green infrastructure: bit.ly/3Va2rAD
Regulations: bit.ly/3OFI4Zq
Revision: https://bit.ly/3idiWgy
Stormwater Matters: bit.ly/3Vxg1he