With the experience of Hurricane Sandy and recovery from disaster under its belt, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (N.J. DEP) recently published five best practice and guidance documents to help water and wastewater utilities mitigate and recover from disasters and emergencies. N.J. DEP produced the following documents:
Auxiliary Power Guidance and Best Practices: Clarifies N.J. DEP's requirements on the provision of auxiliary power for wastewater and drinking water systems, specifically focusing on service standards, appropriate modes of auxiliary power, locating auxiliary power equipment, fuel sources and reserves, response times and maintenance, testing and record-keeping.
Infrastructure Flood Protection Guidance and Best Practices: Identifies design requirements governing recovery or mitigation activities for which federal and/or state funding assistance is provided, clarifies existing state regulations on recovery or mitigation activities in floodplains and encourages measures to enhance flood resiliency for both existing and new facilities.
Asset Management Guidance and Best Practices: Summarizes the elements of an asset management strategy that will meet state regulatory requirements and promote more responsible investment and rehabilitation of N.J.'s drinking water and wastewater system infrastructure.
Emergency Response Preparedness/Planning Guidance and Best Practices for Drinking Water Systems: Provides links to NJ DEP's ERP template.
Emergency Response Preparedness/Planning Guidance and Best Practices for Wastewater Systems: Outlines the essential elements of emergency response planning for wastewater treatment and collection systems and provides an ERP template.
The documents were produced by N.J. DEP’s Division of Water Supply and Division of Water Quality.