New Jersey is getting a lot of money from the Environmental Protection Agency with $4 million just announced for brownfield cleanup and almost $230 million for sewage and water facilities to be repaired as a result of damage from Hurricane Sandy. NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider spoke with EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck about the disbursements and what needs to be done to prepare for future storms.
According to Enck, the EPA money to the state of New Jersey, $229 million to be exact, is unprecedented.
“The federal government is investing in making sure the sewage treatment plants and drinking water plants are protected from future storms,” said Enck. “Local governments can apply, for instance, to bring a lot of the electrical equipment out of the basements to install backup power, hopefully renewable backup power, to build some wetlands so the water can be absorbed … each community needs to look at what works best for their community.”
Sewage treatment plants are especially vulnerable, she said, because by definition they’re right on the waterfront. The Newark sewage treatment plant was especially hit hard by Sandy.
“[It was] just shut down for days which results in massive amounts of untreated raw sewage going into our water.”
The EPA money is intended for building for resiliency, but it’s not nearly enough, said Enck.
“This is an important first step but it’s not the end of it,” she said. “I also think the operators of these drinking water plants and sewage plants learned a lot from Sandy. So when they make investments in the future, they’re going to be very cognizant of potential future storms like [Sandy].”
While Sandy took many people by surprise, Enck said there were some simple proactive steps that could have been taken to mitigate damage.
“I think some simple things like taking the electrical equipment and putting it maybe on the first floor or second floor not in the basement of the facility, having backup power that’s reliable,” she suggested. “What happened to a lot of these plants is their backup power was diesel generators and they couldn’t get the diesel.”
Still, Enck acknowledged that the age of the state’s infrastructure needs to be addressed.
“Even without Sandy, it is in desperate need to be upgraded,” Enck said.