What it means to be a partner:

Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers is a statewide campaign that brings together groups and residents from CSO communities. We work in partnership with local groups, but we do not speak for local groups. Local efforts are led by local leaders and organizations. As a partner organization you agree to:

  1. Share campaign resources with your members and share your local efforts with the campaign.
  2. Distribute information about combined sewer overflows and flooding issues in your communities and participate in campaign outreach efforts.
  3. Optional: Participate in monthly campaign planning calls and campaign events to help determine the direction of the campaign.

Partners agree to support CSO Long Term Control Plans that:

  1. Fund public participation: Each CSO municipality or sewer utility should allocate the resources needed to engage residents and small businesses in developing and implementing the required CSO Long Term Control Plans.
  2. Include a public conversation: Each CSO municipality or sewer utility should collaborate with the relevant local group(s) working to address combined sewer issues, known as Supplemental CSO Teams or Municipal Action Teams, to organize at least three accessible and well-attended public meetings on the proposed sewer infrastructure upgrades, so that all voices are heard before the July 2019 evaluation of alternatives report and July 2020 Long Term Control Plans are submitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
  3. Reflect community values: Each CSO municipality or sewer utility should work with local community groups to develop and implement a survey to residents and small business owners to identify community priorities, and use these priorities to evaluate the solutions being selected in the 2019 evaluation of alternatives report. Before the final plans are submitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for approval, each municipality or sewer utility should provide ample time for residents to review and comment on draft reports, share with the community how their input was incorporated, and include this explanation in its final report.
  4. Deliver local benefits: Each CSO municipality or sewer utility should describe how its plans will include green infrastructure and deliver specific community benefits — for example, effective flood management, cost savings for residents, local jobs, green spaces for communities, and economic opportunities for local businesses.

Growing list of partners:

Join the campaign!