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CONSTRUCTION ADVISORY
NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (DEP) RELEASES FIRST COMBINED SEWER MANAGEMENT PERMIT TO NORTH BERGEN MUA FOR THE WOODCLIFF SEWER TREATMENT PLANT
Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) are discharges from Combined Sewer Systems (CSSs). CSSs are sewers that were designed many decades ago to collect rainwater and snowmelt runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same pipe. CSSs are no longer permitted in New Jersey for new communities, but many older cities in the State continue to operate existing CSSs.
New Jersey was in non-compliance with EPA rules up until 2015 when it issued permits that required the development of long term control plans to meet the requirements to eliminate/mitigate the impact of CSOs in each of the 21 municipalities where these outffalls (over 200) still exist. As a result of this 2015 permit, the DEP has been working with utilities and communities and will now be issuing new permits to all entities operating treatment plants connected to CSSs and each local government where CSO outfalls exist.
Today, the first draft combined sewer management permit was issued to the North Bergen MUA for the Woodcliff Sewer Treatment Plan. Drafts for the remaining permittees/facilities will be issued over the next few months. Each permit will have a clear enforceable schedule for milestones to meet. Most milestones are connected to some aspect of construction. For example, the North Bergen MUA draft permit includes the following schedule of deliverables:
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