For generations, more than 1.5 million people living in 21 New Jersey communities have lived with a problem that remains invisible until it reaches their front door. During flood events, aging combined sewer systems can overwhelm wastewater infrastructure, sending polluted stormwater and sewage into rivers, streets and, in some cases, people’s homes. These combined sewer overflows create environmental hazards, damage property, threaten public health and, ultimately, make it more difficult for a community to thrive.

New Jersey Future’s Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers, a state-wide grassroots advocacy campaign to address sewer overflows into rivers and dirty wastewater flooding into streets and homes through collaboration with local and statewide organizations, has been instrumental in advancing solutions to antiquated water infrastructure, local sewage-backed flooding, climate change and the lack of equitable public engagement on these issues.

Many of New Jersey’s 21 combined sewer overflow communities have experienced decades of underinvestment in infrastructure. As New Jersey experiences more intense and frequent climate-induced rainfall and sea level rise, water overwhelms outdated sewer systems, which means that neighborhoods can experience street flooding, sewage backups, environmental contamination and costly property damage. These challenges affect far more than the condition of roads or waterways. They influence public health, neighborhood stability, economic development and housing opportunities. And often, the communities left behind after a disaster like Hurricane Sandy in 2012, are the ones that need the most support.

Modern, resilient water infrastructure helps make neighborhoods safer for residents and reduce risk for mixed-use development. As New Jersey continues to address its aging infrastructure, these investments create opportunities to build housing in locations that are safer from flooding while remaining close to transit, schools and employment centers that make a community more affordable.

Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers partners saw the need to actively engage residents, encouraging community members to become leaders in decisions that affect their neighborhoods. The Community Leadership Action Program (CLAP) is an initiative they used to advance advocacy work. CLAP is a workshop-based training focused on the combined sewer overflow issue that is co-created with the impacted community and equips residents with the knowledge, skills and confidence to advocate for cleaner water, climate and flood resilience and equitable communities.

“Community voices need to drive the solutions,” said Jyoti Venketraman, director of collaborations and organizational equity at New Jersey Future. “CLAP program enables Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers and its partners to engage people in the communities about their role in building a stronger and safer community.”

Turning residents into advocates

Infrastructure planning can involve highly technical engineering documents, policy and financing mechanisms that can be challenging for residents unfamiliar with municipal planning processes to understand. CLAP helped change that.

Since launching in 2021, the CLAP program has trained four cohorts of community leaders across New Jersey, including Jersey City, the North Hudson Sewerage Authority service region and the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission service region, with additional work expanding into Camden. Participants learn the history of combined sewer systems, how infrastructure planning works, how to interpret technical plans and how to effectively advocate for their communities.

“Many participants enter the program because they have experienced flooding themselves and care deeply about environmental justice,” said Andrea Sapal, program manager of Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers. “CLAP helps community members transform those experiences into informed advocacy by giving them practical tools to participate in public meetings, comment on infrastructure plans and engage directly with utilities and government agencies.”

One of CLAP’s strongest examples of community leadership can be found in Jersey City, where educator Dr. Grace Sanvictores, an alumnus of the CLAP program, has incorporated what she’s learned into her STEM curriculum at the Hudson Montessori School.

Her students study local waterways, collect community data about flooding, monitor American eel migration and participate in oyster restoration projects. They also meet with engineers, develop ideas to improve stormwater systems and present their recommendations to local utility officials.

Through these experiences, students begin to see themselves not simply as learners, but as stakeholders in the future of their community. “They’re not just future leaders,” Sanvictores said. “They’re current stakeholders. This centers on community voices. If you are proximate to the problem, you should be able to be part of the solution.”

The conversations extend well beyond the classroom. Students interview family members about flooding, discuss neighborhood challenges at home and help neighbors better understand how aging infrastructure and climate affects their daily lives. That ripple effect strengthens community awareness while building a new generation of civic leaders.

Long-term control

Through local and state advocacy, NJF has secured regional funding for sewerage upgrades for 49 towns and eight municipalities affected by combined sewer overflows and continues to work closely with residents to ensure their priorities are part of the equitable implementation of combined sewer overflow plans.

Over the past several years, Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers engaged community leaders in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s combined sewer overflow Long-Term Control Plans stakeholder process to advocate for environmental justice, climate change and green infrastructure considerations in the plans.

The plans provide communities affected by combined sewer overflows with long-term solutions and guide water infrastructure investments to substantially reduce overflow events and local flooding over the next 10 to 20 years.

Earlier this year, Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers helped New Jersey reach a historic milestone: all combined sewer overflow Long-Term Control Plans, along with their associated permits, were approved and released. Six of the seven plans have already been finalized.

Building stronger communities together

Addressing combined sewer overflows will require decades of investment, engineering and collaboration. Yet the most important lesson emerging from New Jersey’s experience is that infrastructure alone is not enough.

Lasting solutions require trust, relationship building and community leadership.

As neighborhoods become more resilient to flooding, New Jersey also has an opportunity to support equitable growth that includes safer, more affordable housing connected to schools, transit, jobs and other community resources. When residents help shape those investments from the beginning, communities become not only more resilient, but more equitable as well.

“One town may have different needs than another town, so the advocacy solutions are truly responsive to the community needs,” said Venketraman. “Because of this, Sewage-Free Streets and Rivers and its partners are able to influence state-level policy issues and, most importantly, able to make government see the importance of community engagement.”

Today, CLAP graduates continue serving as neighborhood advocates, educators and nonprofit leaders. Some organize community events, while others educate neighbors or help local organizations navigate technical planning processes. These accomplishments demonstrate that residents are not simply observers of infrastructure projects. They are helping shape them.