NJ Infrastructure > Infrastructure by Category > Wastewater
Infrastructure by Category:
Wastewater (Grade D)
The history of wastewater treatment in the United States begins with passage of a bill in 1886 designed to prevent dumping of materials into New York Harbor which would impede navigation. This was followed by a series of other well-intentioned regulations. Where these intentions failed was in determining who had authority over public waters at the Federal, State, or Local level, the absence of technology and efficient means for treating wastewater, and available funding for any quality standards established. The Clean Rivers Restoration Act under President Johnson established a basin-wide approach to planning, treatment, and regulation, but lacked sufficient funding. Similarly, the Nixon administration attempted to channel the environmental movement of the 1960s by proposing a $10 billion treatment plant construction program. The program was funded at only 40% by Federal dollars. The United States has long had a conscience to improve its waters, if not the funding to back its resolutions.
The Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (the Clean Water Act) were designed to overcome the lack of funding and control evident in past programs. The Federal government was charged with funding 75% of the costs for building wastewater treatment facilities. It established water quality goals and enforcement procedures. It regulated all point discharges through a program called the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). In 1981 New Jersey was given control of the NPDES program for New Jersey discharges. Since that time, the NJPDES program has grown to the point where it currently administers 5,233 active permits including 255 for municipal discharges and 422 for industrial discharges direct to surface waters. The program has also expanded to include discharges to groundwater, stormwater collection system discharges, and indirect discharges. The Division of Water Quality Watershed Permitting Element is divided into 2 Point Source Bureaus which monitor active point source permits throughout the State. Over 15 billion gallons of wastewater are treated and discharged each day in New Jersey.
The Outlook Today&ldots;
Since then, wastewater regulation programs have evolved from primary
treatment standards which remove large items by sedimentation, to
secondary and tertiary standards which use biological treatment
techniques to remove organic material. Some states, including New
Jersey, are looking to remove excessive nutrients through additional
treatment steps. High levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in discharge
waters have been blamed for increasing algae buildup in our rivers
and streams. In New Jersey where a river may serve as both point of
waste discharge and source of drinking water supply, high algae
content can lead to increased drinking water treatment costs. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering establishing
maximum daily discharge standards for Region 2 (to which New Jersey
belongs), independent of any more stringent controls which the State
may develop.
Unfortunately, the trends of the past continue. While water quality in our State's streams and rivers has improved markedly over the past 40 years since the Clean Water Act was first passed, the public demands water of the highest quality for the protection of aquatic and wildlife and recreational purposes. Oftentimes the new water quality standards are handed down without any funding for construction of the treatment processes necessary to make them a reality. Sewerage authorities are faced with the option of raising sewerage tariffs or raising funds by bonding public projects.
Wastewater Collection and Transport Systems
Increasingly stringent water quality standards are only half of the
equation. Just as significant as the treatment processes themselves,
is the infrastructure that collects the sewerage and transports it to
the treatment facilities.
150 years ago, combined sewers were designed to transport both sanitary sewage and stormwater flows to the treatment facilities. There currently remain 280 combined sewer overflow (CSO) points throughout 8 counties in New Jersey. When valuable capacity is taken up by storm flows, the wastewater treatment plants are forced to discharge raw and partially treated sewage into streams and rivers. The EPA estimates there are at least 40,000 raw sewage discharges nationwide each year. Beaches closings, shellfish restrictions, public and private property clean-ups are other potential side effects of sanitary sewer overflows.
In addition to overtaxed pipe networks, the physical components are aging quickly. Most of the sewerage collection systems in New Jersey were installed 70 or more years ago, but the expected useful life of pipe is only 50 years. Construction on the City of Newark collection system began in 1852. While it may be possible to extend the life of a pipe to 75 or 100 years with good maintenance, most of the infrastructure under our city streets is crumbling from neglect. Not only do pipe breaks disrupt the sewerage collection and conveyance systems, but over time, they may create giant sinkholes in our streets.
What is Being Done
New Jersey has regulations and programs in place to monitor point
discharges and enforce compliance with quality standards. They also
have plans and programs to identify and prioritize projects. Each
sewage authority is required to prepare a Water Quality Management
Plan which identifies the capacities and location of collection
systems in the municipalities under its jurisdiction. Before the
collection system can be expanded to accommodate new customers, the
authority must evaluate the capacity of its treatment facilities and
its ability to process additional flows. If necessary, new projects
must be identified to increase the conveyance or treatment capacity
of the system. The DEP then amasses these reports into 20 separate
Area-Wide Water Quality Management Reports based on discharges to a
common watershed. The projects are further prioritized within each
area-wide report.
The State also monitors all existing CSOs and has developed an approach to control and fund improvement initiatives. Since 1990, all CSOs in New Jersey are required to have an NJPDES permit. The State prepared a CSO Long-Term Control planning process (LTCP) which was accepted by the EPA in 1998 and set the foundations for the NJ LTCP CSO Control Plan. This multi-phase plan laid out long-term goals for slowly bringing the CSOs within the state into compliance with the Clean Water Act and improving the overall quality of New Jersey's waters as required by National CSO regulations.
New Jersey makes low interest loan money available for wastewater and CSO improvements available through its Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program. The program works in partnership with the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust Program (EITP), an independent financing authority. Each program awards an equal amount of funding, subject to different interest rates and program requirements. Projects are prioritized and money award through an evaluation of the nature of the problem and potential damage to receiving waters. Currently, the highest priority projects are designed to eliminate untreated discharges to waters from CSOs and damaged pipelines. Other high priority projects are along coastal waterways, and those where the receiving waters do not meet the State's quality standards. Since the creation of the program, more than $1.5 billion dollars in loan money have been awarded.
Conclusion
The American Water Works Association, American Society of Civil
Engineers, US Environmental Protection Agency, and numerous public
advocacy watchdog groups have all identified the aging infrastructure
as an area for concern. At the same time, federal funding for the New
Jersey Clean Water State Revolving Fund has declined 51% to only
$26.7 million in fiscal 2008, and applications for new projects have
risen 29%. The current estimate to repair the wastewater
infrastructure throughout the State is $15 billion. Without
intervention, sewerage demand is expected to exceed available
treatment capacity by 2016.
The ASCE grading system considered two factors: 1) State of Repair and 2) Quality of life. ASCE based this portion of grading on the unmet need, or the percentage of funding provided for requested funding.
Based solely on the amount of funding available as compared to the amount of funding necessary, the ranking of the wastewater infrastructure would yield a grade of F. However, consideration was given to the numerous control programs, planning agencies, and loan and grant programs available throughout the State. It is because of programs like these that the quality of New Jersey's water has continued to improve. ASCE assigns a grade of D to Wastewater.
In order to raise the grade, New Jersey must take a moment to recognize that while controlling discharge water quality is important, the existing infrastructure is in need of critical repairs. As we continue to pass more stringent quality standards, money is diverted away from rehabilitation projects. The treatment facilities constructed over 40 years ago in response to the Clean Water Act have reached the end of their useful lives without consideration for additional treatment processes. Funding from State and Federal sources has traditionally gone to treatment facility upgrades, and not to conveyance system rehabilitation. As stated above, some of the pipe networks in New Jersey date back to the 1850s. Large diameter interceptor lines which deliver sewerage to the treatment plants may lie under critical roadways. The costs to repair these aging pipelines will be high. The costs of repairs if the pipes should fail completely are much higher.