GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR MORE INFORMATION... FOR THE HOME Please visit our website for more detailed information Rain barrels connect to a gutter’s about green infrastructure and programs in your STORMWATER downspout and collect rainwater to be community. later used for watering. Rain barrels can COMBINED SEWER be as simple as a garbage can or plastic Questions? Contact Christopher C. Obropta, Ph.D., drum or a wooden cask that can be P.E., Extension Specialist in Water Resources at OVERFLOWS, decorated with paint. RAIN [email protected] BARREL & GREEN Rain gardens look like a regular flower water.rutgers.edu garden but they are designed to collect INFRASTRUCTURE rainwater and let it slowly drain into the ground. A rain garden is a few inches deep and planted with a variety of native plants to help absorb the rainwater that gathers in the garden.

Municipalities can incorporate green infrastructure by: • Building rain gardens in parking and road islands, along sidewalks and in parks • Offering incentives for rain barrels • Using pervious pavers THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS! Below, a homeowner with a beautiful rain garden.

City of Camden Greater Newark Conservancy Cooper’s Ferry Partnership NY-NJ Baykeeper New Jersey Tree Foundation New Jersey Tree Foundation New Jersey Department of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Environmental Protection Camden County Municipal Trust for Public Land Utilites Authority City of Newark Office of Sustainability

RAIN Cover photo by Colin Cooke GARDEN 1 New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). 2013. Combined Sewer Outfall (CSO) Individual NJDEP Discharge Permits FAQs 2013. http://www.nj.gove/dep/dwq/pdf/cso_faqs_062113.pdf WHAT IS STORMWATER RUNOFF? COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOWS Stormwater & Rain and snowmelt that runs off the ground is Sewage Inflow Sewage Inflow called stormwater runoff. In urban areas where the ground is hard, water cannot easily soak into the ground to replenish the groundwater supply so it flows from streets, sidewalks, lawns, and building Flow to Flow to COMBINED RAIN Wastewater Wastewater SEWER roofs into storm drains. As stormwater runs along OVERFLOW GARDEN Treatment Treatment the ground towards the storm drains, it picks up WEATHER DRY Plant Plant STORMY WEATHER pollutants such as sediment, oil, chemicals, and Water is held in the pipes and flows The combination of stormwater animal waste. Those pollutants then flow directly Above, a student learns about the rain garden installed in his schoolyard. to treatment plant. and sewage exceeds capacity and from the storm drains into local waterways. overflows into local waterways CALL FOR COMMUNITY ACTION In most areas of New Jersey, stormwater is CONDENSATION EVAPORATION In several New transported in its own stormwater sewer system Jersey cities, groups which is separate from the wastewater sewer are beginning to system that carries water from your home. In some PLANTER tackle problems older urban cities, these systems are combined BOX into one system that carries both wastewater and Much less infiltration from combined Roads and roofs stormwater to a treatment plant. During heavy stop infiltration More sewers using green runoff NO RAIN: rain or snow melt, these combined sewer systems Streams dry up infrastructure. In SOIL RAIN: Camden, rain gardens cannot handle the additional stormwater and Streams flood Low groundwater flow are being built and overflow into local waterways carrying the waste BEDROCK rain barrels are being water into rivers, streams and bays. The diagram above depicts the stormwater runoff process. distributed to residents. In Newark, vacant lots In New Jersey, 21 municipalities have combined FLOODING are being converted to sewer systems. In these cities, there are a total of 1 If a storm drain clogs, stormwater is blocked gardens, and cisterns 217 combined sewer overflows (NJDEP 2013) . and backs up into streets and can back up into are being used to collect When overflows occur, stormwater that has been your home. Sometimes there is just too much rain to water the plants. mixed with untreated wastewater is discharged into stormwater that can fit down the storm drain. Others like Jersey City, local waterways, contaminating them with multiple Hoboken, and Perth pollutants such as human waste. WHAT IS THE ANSWER? Amboy are also looking Below, left: combined sewer overflow is released into a local NJ waterway, Stormwater should be managed before it reaches at green infrastructure right: top, stormwater rushes to a stormdrain and bottom, overflows the storm drain. Rain gardens, rain barrels, solutions to help stop and green roofs (called green infrastructure) flooding and combined capture stormwater so that it can be reused and sewer overflows. More absorbed into the ground. The best part of green work is needed, and infrastructure is that not only does it help manage every resident can help. stormwater, it makes communities more beautiful! Left, a planter box adds color to a yard with little green space. Photo by Yarra Climate Action Now.