The New Jersey Legislature and Governor Murphy allocated $300 million from American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds for water infrastructure in the FY2023 budget. On September 1, 2022 the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) released a proposal for how the $300 million will be allocated as amendments to the Clean Water and Drinking Water Intended Use Plans (IUPs).

The IUPs establish the priorities and projects that will receive funding in 2023. The proposed amendments prioritize the $300 million as principal forgiveness for overburdened localities and includes $248 million for combined sewer overflow (CSO) projects. This funding can go towards projects listed in the CSO Long Term Control Plans submitted to NJDEP before the plans have been officially approved. There is a 30-day public comment period from September 1, 2022 through October 3, 2022 to collect input before the proposal is finalized. Comments on the proposal can be emailed to waterbankinfo@dep.nj.gov.

Read the public notice and summary of the proposal and comment period here. To learn more, read the full proposal and the list of projects eligible for this funding.

As part of its comprehensive efforts to improve water quality and mitigate the worsening impacts of flooding caused by climate change, the NJDEP has announced it is seeking applications for $10 million in grants to modernize stormwater management systems and to provide technical assistance to municipal, county, and utility authorities to plan to become more resilient, including conducting feasibility studies:

Access information on the grants here.

Several communities with combined sewer systems and Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers Partners received grants as part of the $9.4 billion in grants awarded from the NJDEP in July. Funded projects include a watershed education program led by Hackensack Riverkeeper; green infrastructure installations in Hoboken, Paterson, Jersey City, Camden, and Newark; and many more exciting and impactful projects. Congratulations to all of the awardees. Learn more about the grantees and their projects here.

As the state marks Hurricane Preparedness Month, the NJDEP Office of Emergency Management reminds residents of the ways to protect themselves from flooding. From signing up for emergency alerts to packing an emergency kit, check out the full list of recommendations for preparedness here.

Suzanne Aptman started with New Jersey Future in September as Community Organizer and Policy Advocate. She is leading advocacy, capacity building, and coalition management initiatives to advance the goals of the Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers campaign and the Lead-Free NJ collaborative. Suzanne is a municipal environmental commission chair and brings an extensive background in advocacy, program development/management, sustainability, leadership development, and group facilitation. She holds a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia Business School and a Bachelors in Arts in Political Science and Spanish from Tufts University. Suzanne completed the Green Infrastructure Champions Program at Rutgers and the Educating for Sustainability Program at The Cloud Institute. We are thrilled to have Suzanne on the team!

Join New Jersey Future in honoring six incredible projects and our two Cary Edwards Leadership Award winners for their groundbreaking contributions to making New Jersey communities sustainable, resilient, equitable, and strong. Don't miss the opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Smart Growth Awards and honor this year’s winners by tuning into the virtual showcase.

Register here.

On September 19, the Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers Advisory Committee of experts from local and state community-based organizations gathered virtually to discuss the SFSR program’s high level objectives, goals, and strategies for the year. It was a meeting chock full of ideas and insights tied to the overall goal of reducing flooding and pollution from combined sewer outflows. Key topics of discussion included pushing for CSO permit release, getting started on projects even before permit release, and leveraging green infrastructure.

The 4th Annual Climate Resilient & Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) Convening was held in person in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 12–13. The convening took place before the US Water Alliance's One Water Summit that was held September 13–15, 2022. Andrea Jovie Sapal and Diane Schrauth represented New Jersey Future (NJF) and the Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers campaign at the convening. The CREWS delegation visited Milwaukee Water Commons, a cross-city network that fosters connection, collaboration, and broad community leadership on behalf of our common waters.

America has a drinking water problem. The 2.2 million miles of pipes that carry water into homes, businesses and public places are breaking. Many of the roughly 145,000 public water systems’ treatment facilities that make water safe to drink are decaying. And a growing number of the pumps and pipelines that funnel water from reservoirs and rivers are failing.

A study published in August in the journal Nature found that climate change-fueled flooding and droughts are still getting deadlier and more expensive. The study took social and economic barriers into account.

"Our infrastructure systems are all very old, and while the US was a pioneer in developing flood infrastructure, that means a lot of the things that we built are very, very old," said Amir AghaKouchak, a co-author and civil engineer at UC Irvine. "We have levees that are 70 years old, some 100 years old. We really have to focus on reducing our vulnerability associated with this old infrastructure."