Communities throughout New Jersey – from Camden to Trenton to Perth Amboy to Jersey City and Newark – face the risk of raw sewage getting drained directly into streams, streets, and homes during major rainfalls.
That’s because these cities are still served by antiquated sewer systems that handle runoff from streets and parking lots and wastewater from homes and businesses all in the same pipe. During heavy storms, the pipe overflows all that untreated stormwater, sewage, and wastewater into streets and nearby waterways. It’s a public health nightmare that’s getting worse as storms are dumping more rain and are happening more often.
There are 21 combined sewer overflow systems in New Jersey, most of which are located in low-income and communities of color, suffering from the same problems across 3 generations.
That’s why we’re teaming up with Waterspirit and the New Jersey State Conference of the NAACP to host a webinar on Wednesday, June 29, from 7-8 PM for residents and community leaders to learn more about the growing public health and equity issues caused by these antiquated water infrastructure systems.
Environmental Justice and Stormwater Management Series: An Introduction to Flooding and Combined Sewer Overflows as a Social Justice Issue and Public Health Crisis.
We’re all experiencing the effects of climate change. In the West, there are wildfires. Here, it’s more frequent and more violent storms. Across the state, we’re seeing flooding in places that rarely flooded before, and it’s causing damages to homes and businesses that are often not covered by insurance.
While this trend is being experienced statewide, some communities are more vulnerable to these impacts than others all because of these ancient combined sewer systems.
This webinar is going to feature experts from the US Water Alliance and New Jersey State Conference of the NAACP, who will explain how combined sewer overflows are a public health crisis neglected for far too long and the opportunities to address this problem. This webinar will be the first of a series of Environmental Justice and Stormwater Management events that will pay special attention to the City of Camden as one of the most impacted areas in the state that has taken action.
We hope you’ll join us on Wednesday, June 29 from 7:00 -8:00 PM to learn more about how we all can raise our voices to help solve this problem.
Sign up to join us for this important discussion.
NJSBN is a state affiliate of the American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN).
“Our affiliation with ASBN enhances NJSBN’s credibility with New Jersey policymakers, business leaders, and members of the media. The ongoing ability to engage with ASBN and its network helps us to better serve our members as we work together to influence positive systemic change at the state level.”
All Rights Reserved © 2025
