Planning for Our Future: Effects of Climate Change on CSOs

The Jersey Water Works (JWW) Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Committee recognizes that CSO permittees, communities, and stakeholders know that climate change can harm our sewer infrastructure but may struggle with how to plan for it. Major weather events like Hurricane Henri and Tropical Storm Ida have raised awareness that many parts of our current sewer infrastructure cannot handle increasingly severe storms. New Jersey’s CSO communities have recently completed CSO Long Term Control Plans (LTCPs) to meet environmental regulations, but the question remains: are these plans adequate to confront climate change impacts? This report looks at the need to look at climate change’s impact on planning for CSO communities.