Newark Announces the Green Infrastructure Program to Increase the City’s Resilience to Flooding and Stormwater
Director Kareem Adeem announcing RainReady Newark at the 2024 South Ward Environmental Alliance Summit at the Temple of Hip Hop. Courtesy of Newark Water & Sewer, April 2024.
NEWARK, N.J.— Newark Water & Sewer Director Kareem Adeem formally announced RainReady Newark, a Green Infrastructure (GI) program that increases the City’s resilience to stormwater.
At the 2024 South Ward Environmental Alliance (SWEA) Summit, Director Adeem commended the project to be of great benefit to the City of Newark, as it will improve stormwater management, increase green spaces, and improve air quality and urban heat.
“The mismanagement of stormwater is a threat to our water quality”, said Director Adeem. “This program ensures that the best stormwater collection and management practices are in place.”
The RainReady Newark banner at the SWEA Summit highlighting the benefits of the program.
“Reduce Street Flooding!
Keep Newark Cool!
Improve Air Quality!
Replace Concrete with Green Space!”
The program was created in part as a response to NJDEP’s 2020 amendment to statewide stormwater rules, which requires water systems to implement green infrastructure that facilitates the collection of stormwater runoff.
RainReady Newark mitigates high stormwater runoff in urban areas, thus reducing the instances of combined sewage overflow (CSO) events.
CSO occurs when a combined sewer system, present in some parts of Newark, has too much stormwater runoff than the system can handle, which can result in the flow of untreated wastewater into nearby waterbodies and flooding.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has been vocal about CSOs and has cited the issue as a top priority in Newark’s wastewater infrastructure.
Phase 1 of RainReady Newark is currently underway—12 out of over 100 potential sites are scheduled for design and construction of green spaces. This puts the City of Newark on track to meet their goal of 85% runoff capture in Newark CSO areas, as planned in the Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) in 2021. HDR is set as the consulting engineer company for the project.
In addition, Newark Water & Sewer attended the 2024 SWEA Environmental Summit at the Temple of Hip Hop, where youth leadership, grassroots movements, and policy making were discussed as essential components to achieving environmental justice.
Director Kareem Adeem (center), Councilwoman Louise Scott-Rountree (left), and SWEA Founder Kim Gaddy (right) pictured at the 2024 SWEA Summit.
Courtesy of Newark Water & Sewer, April 2024.
Our mascot, Sewer Sammie, made a surprise appearance at the Summit!
Newark Water & Sewer tabled with goodies, water bottles, and informational handouts with sustainability and water saving tips.
“This program is yet another win in the fight for environmental justice right here in Newark”, said Director Adeem. “We are actively working to carry out programs that protect Newark communities”.
To learn more about Newark Water & Sewer’s Green Infrastructure Program, visit our Projects tab on water.newarknj.gov, or visit rainreadynewark.org.
A screengrab of the homepage of RainReadyNewark.org, a website that houses all information and updates on the project.