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Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority
Crucial Information
Crucial Information
- The CCMUA wants to be a positive influence on the surrounding neighborhood
- Camden County uses a combined sewer system, which is prone to flooding with contaminated storm water. Separating the services out is prohibitively costly: a decade ago, estimates for the job topped $1 billion.
- In 2011, Camden moved to recapture some of its lost greenspace through the Camden SMART (Stormwater Management and Resource Training) Initiative. The project built about 60 rain gardens, funded by grants and low-interest state loans, in areas of the city most prone to flooding.
Background
Background
For 18 years, the CCMUA operated with no odor control, flood management or regard for the people of Waterfront South. Many places in the area were prone to terrible smells from the treatment process, and rainwater would create floods. This all changed when Andy Kricun became a director at the plant, and promised to be a force of good for the plant and neighborhood. Now the CCMUA is committed to protecting water quality, odor minimization, cost efficiency, minimizing carbon footprint, and community service. Since the creation of the SMART and Collaborative Initiatives, the CCMUA have created many rain gardens and other projects in an effort to end their negative influence and improve Waterfront South and the surrounding area every day.
Combined sewer overflow occurs when the volume of rainwater runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater coming to a wastewater treatment plant exceeds the capacity of the plant, meaning that the excess is dumped into rivers and streams before being treated. This also causes storm drains to back up, leading to contaminated storm water flooding low lying areas. This creates problems for the CCMUA because it further contaminates storm water which would not have needed as much treatment if it wasn’t combined with the sewage. It also has been a problem persisiting the city of Camden and its residents because the streets have been flooding with contaminated water. Costs prohibit the separation of the sewer system so the CCMUA must find other ways to make this issue better for the enviorment and for the citizens of Camden.
Since Camden lacks a Parks Department, the CCMUA applied for an open space grant, so they would own and maintain Phoenix Park on behalf of Camden County. A partnership among the CCMUA, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, about 80 environmental non-profits, and governmental and educational institutions was formed. The initiative planned to give citizens access to the waterfront and to aid some concerns over combined sewage flooding. Rain gardens were initially built in Phoenix Park to beautify the neighborhood and collect storm water and the success of the project led them to build more rain gardens throughout Camden.
The Camden Stormwater Management and Resource Training Initiative was founded in 2011 by Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, the City of Camden, the CCMUA, Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program, New Jersey Tree Foundation, and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. The goal of this program is to improve water quality, increase economic development, and enhance the quality of life for Camden City and the Delaware River. The SMART Initiative has constructed a total of 49 green infrastructure projects as of 2014 throughout the city, which capture, treat and infiltrate over 60 millions gallons of stormwater each year that would otherwise contribute to overflows of the combined sewer system.
50 Green Infrastructure Projects
1,500+ Trees Planted
250+ Rain Barrels Distributed
$25M Invested in Camden Since 2011
- Prevent neighborhood Flooding
- Creating more sustainable jobs
- Decreasing pollution
- Adding recreational areas to surrounding property
- reducing possibility of sewage overflow
- Grant Access to the waterfront
- Increasing quality of life in neighborhoods of Camden
Location of CCMUA, just north of Phoenix Park.
Aerial view of the CCMUA plant.
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