NORTH HUDSON SA GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

The North Hudson Sewerage Authority ("NHSA") recently completed green infrastructure improvements that are being financed with approximately $547,350 in loans from the NJ Water Bank, a low-rate funding program jointly administered by the DEP and the NJ I-Bank. This project received $270,965 in principal forgiveness for CSO projects, which improved conditions for combined sewer overflows using green infrastructure. Including interest cost savings, total savings for this project, as compared to NHSA financing on its own, is estimated to be $630,610 over the 15-year term of the loan. By financing through the Water Bank, the total cost to complete the project is less than the actual cost of the project and NHSA can spread the payments over 15 years, making the project very affordable for rate payers. In addition, this project created an estimated seven (7) direct one-year construction jobs. 

This project implemented key pieces of NHSA's long-term control plan. NHSA constructed rain gardens, porous pavement, and stormwater planters at three locations in its service area. All three areas are fully developed consisting of land use associated with educational, residential, and commercial uses. At St. Augustine School, in Union City, 1,270 square feet of impervious parking was replaced with pervious asphalt parking spaces. A rain garden and two enhanced tree pits with subsurface stone storage were installed to capture rooftop and roadway runoff. At Park Avenue and Cooper Place in Weehawken, three 100 square-foot stormwater planters were installed with shrubs and grasses to capture roadway and sidewalk runoff through curb cut and trench drains. NHSA also removed 4,900 square feet of impervious parking at 63rd street in West New York and replaced it with porous asphalt parking spaces. 

 Albio Sires, Mayor of the Town of West New York, home to one of the NHSA project sites, acknowledged the important role of the Water Bank to improve local infrastructure in CSO communities. "It is imperative that we address the region's CSO issues, and green infrastructure is a relatively inexpensive way to do it – as demonstrated by the savings incurred from this project. We are fortunate that our sewerage authority strategized so shrewdly with the Water Bank to protect the environment while addressing the issues at hand. I look forward to working with the DEP and I-Bank in the future to accomplish this throughout our town and region."

 This project was designed by CH2M and Mott MacDonald and constructed by JR Cruz Corporation and Persistent Construction.