How will these upgrades be funded?
The people who live, work, and run businesses in these cities will pay most of the costs of these upgrades. That’s why you need to advocate now for the solutions that will work best for your community. Financing solutions currently being used and new innovative solutions include:
- Sewer fees: Municipal and regional wastewater utilities operate, maintain, and upgrade CSO systems using funds from sewer fees.
- Stormwater utility: A dedicated funding mechanism that assesses a fee based on how much stormwater runs off of a property. Under this approach, properties that generate a greater amount of stormwater runoff—those with large areas of hardened surfaces like cement and asphalt—pay a larger fee than smaller properties that generate less stormwater runoff. This ensures an equitable funding strategy.
- Grants: Water Quality Restoration Grants for Non-Point Source Pollution are awarded annually by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to fund watershed restoration activities, including green infrastructure projects for municipalities with combined sewer systems.
- Grants and Low interest loans: The New Jersey Water Bank provides low-interest loans and grants to local governments for gray and green infrastructure projects. This Applicant’s Guide to Obtaining Water Bank Funding for Green Infrastructure Projects explains how to access the grants and loans.