TRENTON, May 6, 2014 – New Jersey Future today released a major report highlighting the extreme degree to which the water infrastructure in New Jersey’s oldest cities is in disrepair; the threat this represents to those cities’ economic vitality; and the many barriers faced by efforts to repair and upgrade it.

The report is being released in two parts. The first part, Water Infrastructure in New Jersey’s CSO Cities: Elevating the Importance of Upgrading New Jersey’s Urban Water Systems, is an analysis of the extent of the problems in cities with the most obsolete form of wastewater infrastructure, combined sewer systems. The analysis was prepared by a team led by Daniel Van Abs Ph.D., associate research professor in Rutgers’ School of Environmental & Biological Sciences and current chairman of the New Jersey Clean Water Council. The second part of the report, Ripple Effects, summarizes the major findings in the Van Abs report and includes case studies from four New Jersey cities with combined sewer systems.

New regulatory requirements being imposed because of the federal Clean Water Act will force upgrades to these systems that have a multi-billion-dollar price tag, according to the report, an amount many of New Jersey’s cities are unable to afford. However, as the report illustrates via case studies from four such cities, not upgrading this infrastructure can act as a significant drag on economic revitalization.

FULL REPORT HERE.