Water Online

SEP 2016

Water Innovations gives Water and Wastewater Engineers and end-users a venue to find project solutions and source valuable product information. We aim to educate the engineering and operations community on important issues and trends.

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By Kirstin McPolin W hen Emilio DeLia lived in the Country Village section of Jersey City, NJ, Newark Bay was right across the street, offering unfettered access to the lower Hackensack and Passaic rivers. Every time he put his canoe or kayak into Newark Bay, he paddled by at least a couple of combined sewer system outfalls, where sewage can discharge into waterways during rain events. He has even weathered an active combined sewer overflow, but because he is a seasoned paddler, such discharges did not stop him from going out on the river. Even though DeLia is an advanced kayaker, he knows the importance of good information in helping to keep recreational water users safe. "People have the resource of this waterfront literally feet from their homes, so public information about combined sewer overflows is vital," he said. There are 213 CSOs in New Jersey where raw sewage flows directly into waterways after rainstorms, threatening human health and the environment. In areas served by a combined sewer system, storm and wastewater flow through the same pipe to a sewage treatment facility, but during heavy rains some of the pipes aren't able to handle the additional volume of water, so rather than have sewer pipes back up into homes and streets, the system sends a portion of the combined stormwater and wastewater into local waterways without its going through a treatment plant first. Contact with the untreated water can cause illnesses ranging from ear and skin infections to meningitis and encephalitis. Required By Height Of Summer Season In July 2015, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) issued new permits to combined sewer system operators. The permits required that, by January 2016, public signs be posted near combined sewer discharge locations, or outfalls. All New Jersey operators have taken this first step. The permits also required that combined sewer system operators be able to notify the public of overflow events via a telephone hotline or website that can provide up-to- date information regarding CSO occurrences. These public notification systems were required to be in place by July 1, 2016. Although public notice of CSO occurrence was required as of July 1, such notice is only as good as the data and information provided. Combined sewer system operators use any of several different types of detection methods — modeling, monitoring, or observation — to determine whether CSOs have occurred. Modeling uses predictive mathematical calculations based on watershed and rainfall information. Monitoring uses equipment installed at the outfall that collects real-time water flow information that can be downloaded and analyzed. Observation, usually employed in smaller communities, uses visual checks of the outfall done by staff. New Jersey Starts To Come Online One group in New Jersey took the lead on implementing CSO notification systems prior to the July 1 date. The North Hudson Sewerage Authority (NHSA), which serves Hoboken, Union City, Weehawken, and West New York, has 10 combined sewer outfalls along the Hudson River. The authority's Waterbody Advisory System provides the public with real-time information related to CSOs into the Hudson River. An online color-coded map alerts the public in real time when a CSO occurs, based on level sen- sors in the sewer system that monitor and report overflow inci- 18 wateronline.com n Water Innovations Public Notice: Best Practices For CSO Alerts Jersey Water Works, a new collaborative, works to catalyze best practices in combined sewer overflow (CSO) reduction and notification in New Jersey. Photo Credit: Raritan Riverkeeper Combined sewer outfall

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