Newark Considers Green Infrastructure To Fight Stormwater Messes

Major cities struggle with sewage-laced stormwater problems when it rains. Green infrastructure may be a solution

A new research paper by Together North Jersey, a policy organization with federal funding, aims “to identify and act upon opportunities to deploy Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) in the streetscape and on City-owned land,” NJ Advance Media reported.

Newark officials are “currently working with several jurisdictions – neighboring municipalities and the regional wastewater treatment plant, which is located in Newark –on a new Long Term Control Plan to reduce the instances of Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) into the Passaic River. This is desirable as a matter of public policy, but it is also a regulatory imperative,” the research report said.

The problem extends far beyond Newark. "More than 700 cities in the United States were built using a combined sewer system, in which wastewater — that's toilet water, shower water, whatever goes down the drain — and runoff from storms flow into a single pipe. Most of the time, that pipe can transport all of it, but when it rains, raw sewage often overflows into streets, basements, rivers and streams," USA Today reported.

Green infrastructure is an essential part of the solution, according to the new paper.

“GSIs range from projects like green roofs and bioswales to rain gardens and rainwater cisterns that absorb stormwater in an attempt to control runoff, the report said. Major cities like New York and Philadelphia have implemented similar infrastructures, which the report said are effective in controlling minor flooding,” according to the new research paper.

How would it look? Here are suggestions for Philadelphia’s Lower Broadway neighbor, as written in the Advance Media report:

• At the Broad and Clark Community Garden, suggestions included a permeable paver entrance and stormwater planter. All of the recommendations at the spot could run up to $146,000.
• The study suggested adding rain barrels and downspout planter boxes to Mount Pleasant Avenue for up to $77,000.
• For between $196 and $239,999, the city could add stormwater planters, pervious concrete sidewalks, and reconstruct the curbs on Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, it said.

Source: Water Online

Taxonomy

• Research
• Stormwater
• Water & Wastewater