Committing to clean water, for future generations and today.

Expanding investment in our water infrastructure:

 

AT LEAST $30 BILLION IS NEEDED OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS

New Jersey is receiving approximately $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  Governor Murphy and the State Legislature have an opportunity to expand funding by leveraging additional funding from its share of American Rescue Plan funding. The additional funding would help make New Jersey a national model for clean water, families, affordability, good jobs and infrastructure. 

An Estimated 130 Million Gallons of Treated Drinking Water are Lost Every Day

Many of the pipes that carry drinking water to our homes, businesses and schools haven’t been upgraded in decades or— in some cases—since the Civil War. When we lose drinking water to leaky pipes, rate payers are left footing the bill.

Flooding and Sewer Overflows Cost Taxpayers

New Jersey incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in damage from flooding last year alone. Flooding is made worse by aging sewers that cannot handle the increased flow from more extreme weather..

Lead and PFAs Threaten Our Health

Lead and chemicals, like PFAs, threaten the health of our families. Making a substantial investment in our water infrastructure now is crucial to ensuring we have a brighter future ahead. 

 

The Clean Water, Healthy Families, Good Jobs campaign recommends $100 million for a planning and design grant program to help water and wastewater systems serving overburdened communities access funding from the New Jersey Water Bank. This funding will help water utilities leverage federal funding to replace lead service lines, identify and remove toxic contaminants, and reduce flooding. 

Why now? We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to use New Jersey’s funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to create a healthier, brighter future for all New Jersey residents by making critical and long overdue upgrades to our water systems without imposing unaffordable increases in water and sewer rates and property taxes.

Our campaign is made up of a historically diverse coalition of business, labor, environmental and community groups, because clean water is essential for everyone.  

Here’s how expanding investment in clean water infrastructure now, will secure a healthier, more affordable future for all New Jersey residents:  

Eligible for potential low-interest loans from the Water Bank to double or triple the coverage.

  • Shovel-Ready - Projects to replace lead pipes are straightforward, and have little to no permitting requirements.  Projects that reduce or eliminate CSO impacts are by their nature more complex to design, permit and construct but there are already over $100 M of projects in the “pipeline” at the Water Bank.

  • Protecting Public Health and the Environment - By removing lead and PFAs from drinking water, reducing damaging floods, and removing sewage from rivers, bays, streets, and basements.

  • Growing the Economy - A $100 million investment in planning and design for water infrastructure will result in $1 billion in projects funded by the New Jersey Water Bank, generating $2.9 billion in other economic benefits and creating or supporting 13,787 jobs throughout the state.