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EPA Provides $229 Million to New Jersey to Make Sewage Treatment Plants and Drinking Water Systems Damaged by Sandy More Resilient

Release Date: 10/01/2014
Contact Information: John Martin, (212) 637-3662, martin.johnj@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $229 million to the State of New Jersey for improvements to wastewater and drinking water treatment facilities impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The funds will be used on projects that reduce the risks of flood damage and that increase the resiliency of wastewater and drinking water facilities to withstand the effects of severe storms.

“This EPA funding will help make New Jersey wastewater and drinking water plants more resilient,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “With climate change, the frequency of severe storms is likely to increase, and wastewater treatment and drinking water plant failures become a serious threat to people’s health and the environment. These funds will help ensure that the basic infrastructure needed to protect people’s health are operating even during severe storms.”

These funds, which were authorized by Congress in the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, were granted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP will provide them to local communities as low or no interest loans that will be paid back to New Jersey. Up to 30 percent of the money being provided can be awarded as grants to communities rather than as loans.

The DEP has identified projects that are eligible for funding by using project priority ranking systems that are based on requirements in the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act and state regulations. The highest rankings were given to projects that have the greatest impact on protecting water quality and protecting drinking water for the most people. The DEP selected the proposed projects and submitted Intended Use Plans that included its recommended projects to the EPA for review. The state also accepted public comments on its Intended Use Plans. The EPA has approved those plans and awarded the $229 million to the DEP. New Jersey’s Intended Use Plans include such projects as outfall repairs in Jersey City, the replacement of the Pequannock, Lincoln Park and Fairfield Sewerage Authority’s generator, and the replacement of damaged pumps in Long Beach Township.

For a list of New Jersey clean water projects that are eligible to receive this funding, see: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dwq/cwpl.htm

For a list of New Jersey drinking water projects that are eligible to receive this funding, see: http://www.nj.gov/dep/watersupply/dws_loans.html

For more information on the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program, visit http://water.epa.gov/grants_funding/cwsrf/cwsrf_index.cfm

For information on the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program visit https://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwsrf/

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook at http://facebook.com/eparegion2

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