The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Climate Resilient Green Infrastructure project will lay the foundation to reduce future flooding impacts from impervious surfaces, improve water quality, enhance wildlife habitat, and increase resiliency.  Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Station (NJAES) Water Resources Program will conduct impervious cover assessments and reduction actions plans for communities in the Lower Raritan watershed management area (WMA09) through a grant from NFWF.

As our climate changes, New Jersey can expect more intense storms and more annual rainfall, which will result in more flooding and higher risk for residents and businesses within the Raritan River basin.  The Raritan basin contains approximately 140 square miles of impervious cover. For a storm of 1.25 inches of rain over two-hours, approximately three billion gallons of stormwater flows across these impervious surfaces and down to the Raritan and its tributaries.

The project will provide municipalities with documentation on “How-To” implement green infrastructure strategies to reduce the impact of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces on water quality. By reviewing a sampling of local ordinances and master plans, the Climate Resilient Green Infrastructure project will determine how to incorporate impervious cover reduction strategies into such plans and ordinances. This project will also implement “climate resilient” green infrastructure practices in the Basin to reduce the water quality and flooding impact of impervious surfaces, helping to move 54 municipalities in the Lower Raritan watershed management area (WMA09) towards climate resiliency.  Learn more about the municipalities involved and the green infrastructure measures being implemented by clicking here.

For more information, contact Dr. Christopher C. Obropta at obropta@envsci.rutgers.edu, or Program Associate Sara Mellor at saramellor@envsci.rutgers.edu.