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“Following your Stormwater”

MS4 Workshop

A collaboration between the Borough of Highland Park, the City of New Brunswick &

Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership

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October 6, 2022

A Great Blue Heron oversees clean-up activities along the Highland Park floodplain. Photo: Missy Holzer 9.26.2021

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Workshop goals:

  • Learn about Stormwater Utilities and how they make “municipal good sense”
  • Identify challenges to, and opportunities for, reducing overland flooding and improving water quality in our communities
  • Help NJ communities meet state and federal stormwater management (MS4) requirements

Mill Brook stormwater infrastructure outfalls, Highland Park, NJ. Photos: Susan Edmunds

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Workshop Agenda

  • Welcome!

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  • Special Presentation by Bree Callahan, Stormwater Manager with NJFuture

“Rest Easy When It Rains: Why Stormwater Utilities Make Municipal Good Sense”

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  • Best Practices and Strategies for Municipal Stormwater Management

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  • Group Brainstorm: What are we doing well? What can we do better?

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  • Wrap-up: Initiatives and Upcoming events

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Stormwater, per N.J.A.C. 7:14A rules, is defined as “water resulting from precipitation (including rain and snow) that runs off the land' surface, is transmitted to the subsurface, or is captured by separate storm sewers or other sewage or drainage facilities, or conveyed by snow removal equipment.”

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Guest Speaker:

https://stormwaterutilities.njfuture.org/

Bree Callahan, Stormwater Manager

NJ Future

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A (Lower Raritan) watershed perspective on stormwater management

An aerial view of the Lower Raritan River and watershed.

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Photo: Alison M. Jones, with thanks to Light Hawk LLC

Joyce Kilmer Avenue flash flood

August 22, 2022

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A watershed perspective on stormwater management: understanding the issues

Tracking change in land use over time.

More impervious cover means more runoff

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A watershed perspective on stormwater management: understanding the issues

1-2x a year,civic science volunteers conduct stream assessments at headwater streams throughout the watershed

Every week during summer months the LRWP and partners sample water at sites along the Raritan River to test for disease causing pathogens carried by stormwater and other sources

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A multi-pronged approach to stormwater management in the Lower Raritan

  • Water quality monitoring & reporting:

Tracking changes and trends over time

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  • #lookfortheriver: new interactions between people, the built environment and the natural landscape
    • Boyd Park FRAME, crowdsourcing data about the landscape
    • training on how to read a topographic map, identify watersheds & find hidden streams
    • Rock Dance Collective dance
    • “The Run Off” collaborative public stormwater flows performance planned for 2023

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  • MS4 program support to municipalities for education & outreach

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A multi-pronged approach to stormwater management in the Lower Raritan

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MS4 program support to municipalities for education & outreach:

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  • General Public Outreach
  • Target Audience Outreach
  • School/Youth Education & Activities
  • Watershed Regional Cooperation
  • Community Involvement Activities

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A multi-pronged approach to stormwater management in the Lower Raritan

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MS4 program support to municipalities for education & outreach:

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  • General Public Outreach
  • Target Audience Outreach
  • School/Youth Education & Activities
  • Watershed Regional Cooperation
  • Community Involvement Activities

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Community Boat Build; now at 101 Raritan, HP

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The News

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“Bandalong Bandit” Trash Traps for instream waste capture

COMING SOON

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NEW 2023 MS4 Requirements:

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  • Dedicated stormwater education & outreach webpage
  • MS4 Infrastructure GIS Mapping
  • Tree Ordinance & Salt Storage Ordinance
  • Watershed Improvement Plan

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WE ARE YOUR MS4 PARTNER!

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Get involved!

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https://lowerraritanwatershed.org/

  • Sign up for our newsletter
  • Become a water quality monitor / Streamkeeper
  • Join us for clean-ups and other events
  • Help us build boats
  • Sponsor a webpage, program or event
  • DONATE!

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Thank you!

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Questions?

If you would like Teacher Professional Development Certificate please fill out this form:

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https://tinyurl.com/StormwaterPDHours