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Do you know what happens to your sewage once it goes down the drain?

If you live in a town with municipal wastewater treatment facilities, you'd probably say it gets treated before being released back into local waterways.

But that's not always the case.

Today's sewer systems are often structured with two separate pipes: one to carry your sewage directly to the treatment plant and another to carry stormwater runoff to waterways. 1

The Jersey Water Works 2026 Annual Conference is where water utility leaders, community advocates, and policymakers turn complex water infrastructure challenges into equitable opportunities. Grounded in our collective mission of shared actions, this year’s convening focuses on navigating critical regulatory shifts—including aggressive lead service line replacements, new PFAS regulations, and aging combined sewer overflows.

Join over 250 state and local leaders, practitioners, and stakeholders to address the urgent need for investment in New Jersey’s water systems, connect with peers to explore solutions, and recognize the collective efforts advancing our state.

Education is essential to helping people understand how stormwater moves through a community, but effective education requires more than presenting technically accurate information. Information should be relevant to the audience, grounded in familiar examples, and clear about why the information matters. In the Rahway River Watershed, that means helping municipal leaders, residents, and community partners understand how local decisions affect flooding, water quality, and the health of the watershed.

EAST ORANGE, NJ — East Orange was represented in a broader statewide conversation on drinking-water safety as the NAACP Oranges & Maplewood Branch brought together water utility professionals, environmental advocates, state regulators and community leaders for “The State of Safe Drinking Water in NJ Conference” at Seton Hall University. Among the participants was Odell Rolling, supervisor of Water Repairs for the East Orange Water Commission, who joined water professionals from other New Jersey communities and organizations to discuss lead service lines, PFAS “forever chemicals,” aging infrastructure, water affordability and public accountability.

Jersey Water Works said Aug. 6 that the Lead Service Line Implementation Workgroup received an official resolution from the New Jersey Senate & General Assembly in recognition of the group’s policy innovation and leadership in water infrastructure safety.

In April, the Stormwater Utility Subcommittee reviewed summaries of twelve stormwater utility (dedicated user fee funding) feasibility studies funded by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) through their Stormwater Utility Feasibility Study Technical Assistance Program. Three of these projects resulted in the adoption of an active stormwater utility (Maplewood, New Brunswick, and Raritan Township in Hunterdon County). Dan Van Abs, a retired Rutgers University professor, highlighted key aspects of the reports as they explore fee-based stormwater management solutions. The studies covered a wide range of geographic areas, from mostly rural to fully urbanized. A key point is that the municipalities developed an impervious area based user fee structure and investigated diverse ways to use stormwater fees, from funding only capital projects to funding all municipal stormwater operations.

The Jersey Water Works Lead Service Line Implementation Workgroup received an award from the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative.

The group was honored in the Policy Innovation and Leadership category for its leadership and significant contributions to advancing lead service line replacement.

The Future-Forward Water Workforce Program, a partnership between Jersey Water Works (JWW), New Jersey Future (NJF), Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA), and Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority (ACMUA), is actively advancing a water workforce initiative supported by the Partners for Places Jobs and Inclusive Infrastructure Initiative. The program has reached a milestone, enrolling 20 individuals in professional development courses.

Until the establishment of the 2017 Water Quality Accountability Act (WQAA), New Jersey’s public community drinking water systems with over 500 service connections were entirely responsible for setting their own infrastructure standards. Due to a lack of transparency in how systems were managed, there was growing concern about aging infrastructure and the quality of drinking water. The WQAA was a major step in requiring water purveyors to improve safety, reliability, and administrative oversight of water infrastructure, thereby serving as a way to hold drinking water systems accountable. In 2021, amendments made to the law provided the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) with the tools to enforce it. The Jersey Water Works Asset Management and Finance Committee (JWW-AMF), along with its predecessor, the Best Practices Committee, played a key role in providing recommendations that informed the WQAA legislation and its subsequent amendments. These included legislative testimonies by multiple JWW members, collaborating with the American Water Works Association New Jersey section Infrastructure Management Committee to submit recommendations on Asset Management Key Performance Indicators, and public comments on WQAA rules and regulations, elevating important perspectives.

Access to clean water is a human right, but for thousands of families in New Jersey, the rising cost of water and sewer bills turns this essential service into a financial burden. Part One of the Water Affordability Series, "The Challenge," laid out the harsh reality of this issue, from water shut-offs to tax liens. This installment, "The Opportunity," is about action. It identifies the gaps in current assistance programs and explores the collaborative actions and policy changes needed to create long-term affordability programs necessary for a sustainable and equitable water system. New Jersey Future, with member of Jersey Water Works, aims to garner public support and advocate for such policy change with the goal of ensuring that every resident has access to clean, affordable water and the opportunity to thrive.