User:Djflem/Passaic Valley Sewage Commission

The Passaic Valley Sewage Commission (PVSC) is a semi autonomous state agency which oversees wastewater collection and treatment in metropolitan northeastern New Jersey, including the state's largest cities.

Service area
PVSC serves the heavily urbanized area of northeastern New Jersey, encompassing all of the land draining into the Passaic River from the Great Falls in Paterson to Newark Bay including 48 municipalities in portions of Passaic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and small part of Union. As of 2014, the region had a population of about 1.4 million, 380,000 residential units including 360 large apartment buildings, as well as 2,205 large commercial institutions and 380 major industrial sites located within its service area;

The PVSC is one of the oldest and largest, in terms of operational capability, regional sewerage treatment agencies in the United States. Influent capacity is about 330 million gallons per day (MGD) (14.45 cubic meters per second) and is estimated to be about 25% of the total wastewater generated in the whole state. In addition to transport and treatment of wastewater, PVSC is also responsible for pollution abatement for the Lower Passaic River. The commission's main intercepting sewer is approximately 22 miles (35.41 kilometers (km)) long ranging from 3.75 to 12.5 feet (ft) (1.14 to 3.81 meters (m)) in diameter, 18 miles of branch intercepting sewers, and a 12-ft (3.66 m) diameter, 6-fingered ocean outfall terminating at Robins Reef in Upper New York Bay. There are several field pumping stations in the collection system along with approximately 2,000 miles (3,218 km) of lateral sewers owned by the various contributing towns.

http://www.nj.gov/pvsc/who/municipalities/

http://jerseycitynj.gov/agencies.aspx?id=1192 jersey city

Construction and operations
The PVSC was formed as an agency of the state in 1902, by a special act of the New Jersey Legislature to reduce pollution of the Passaic River and its tributaries. Passaic Valley's early anti-pollution activities actually predated the adoption of the New Jersey Sewerage Authority Law. A report completed in 1908 provided the conceptual plan for a primary treatment plant and pumping station to be located in Newark near the Newark Bay and for an intercepting sewer to be built parallel to the Passaic River between the Great Falls in Paterson and the mouth of the river in bay. Construction of the originally recommended facilities was completed in 1924. The original plant contained a 22-mile long interceptor with pumping stations located at Wallington and Clifton a primary treatment facility in Newark along the western shoreline of the Newark Bay containing a steam plant pumping station and a 5-mile long outfall that discharged into Upper New York Bay. Several plant expansions have been made to increase capacity. In the 1930's and 1940's, two additional sedimentation basins were constructed. In the 1950's and 1960's, the sedimentation basins were mechanized, the steam pumps in the main station were replaced with electric and diesel drives, and their capacity was increased. Sludge handling facilities were added and modifications were made to the grit chambers and screenings facility.

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/256/296/ NYC Supreme Court

The facility originally provided only primary treatment for an average sewage flow of approximately 150 million gallons per day (mgd). Additional construction was initiated in the early 1970's as an important step toward improving treatment, increasing capacity and implementing United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) requirements concerning chlorination. Those projects consisted of the construction of a grit and screenings chamber, grit and screenings incinerator facilities, chlorination facilities and an Administration and Control Building containing an analytical laboratory. In order to bring the plant into full compliance with more stringent EPA requirements with respect to water quality, an upgrading to secondary treatment levels was undertaken. Plant design for this upgrade began in 1969, with a 1973 report initiating the preparation of construction drawings and specifications. Field construction began in 1977 and secondary plant start-up began in October 1981. The new secondary facilities were constructed alongside the original existing Primary Clarifier tanks. The first few years of secondary plant operation did not have the benefits of the primary settling facilities. After start-up, all flows passed directly into the secondary system while the old primary basins were demolished (during the summer of 1982) and new ones were constructed in their place. Consequently, start-up of the primary clarifiers in December 1985 resulted in many process and operational changes.

Hurricane Sandy
http://www.northjersey.com/news/800m-sought-for-upgrades-to-passaic-valley-wastewater-plant-800m-for-upgrades-1.694847 http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/08/260m_in_federal_post-sandy_aid_awarded_to_njs_largest_wastewater_treatment_plant.html In July 2014 the State received the largest mitigation grant of its kind FEMA ever has issued through the public assistance program: a $260 million grant to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission. The funding will be used to build a comprehensive flood protection system at the wastewater treatment facility in Newark and incorporate microgrid technology to allow the facility to continue to operate when the larger electric grid fails.

BCUA and NEC
Bergen County Utilities Authority’s Little Ferry facilty ships its sewage sludge for treatment at a facility on the bay.

Executive Order No. 55
By statute the PVSC is to be directed by a Board of Commissioners appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate. It is currently operating under Executive Order No. 55 issued by Governor Chris Christie declaring a state of emergency within the Passaic Valley Sewerage District which authorizes directing the Executive Director to perform all the necessary and appropriate operational functions assigned by law to the commissioners.


 * http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/gov_christie_fires_71_passaic.html
 * http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/passaic-valley-sewerage-troubled-years-gov-christie-intervened-article-1.1762407
 * http://nj.gov/infobank/circular/eocc55.pdf