Jersey Water Works approaches its agenda through collaboration and communication among its members and outside partners.
Our committees plan, implement and manage the strategy efforts of the collaborative through their annual work plans. The 2020 Work Plan will advance best practices, better stakeholder engagement, and affordability for all ratepayers, among other goals.
Our members, at the fifth annual Jersey Water Works Conference in December 2019, made over 30 commitments to implement water infrastructure solutions through new projects, initiatives and activities over the next year.
In Dec. 2016, the collaborative proposed an aspirational measurement system, now called Jersey WaterCheck, to track the progress it’s making towards accomplishing the shared goals. In Dec. 2017, launching the organization into its second phase of work, the collaborative released a new report, Our Water Transformed, identifying three consensus-based solutions to upgrade and transform the state’s water infrastructure. In Dec. 2018, the collaborative formed the Jersey Water Works Lead in Drinking Water Task Force, which released its report, Lead in Drinking Water: A Permanent Solution for New Jersey, in Oct. 2019 at a joint press release with Governor Murphy. In Feb. 2021, Jersey WaterCheck will launch as an online resource to tell the story of our state’s water infrastructure needs.
Past Work and Accomplishments:
2019: The Jersey Water Works 2019 Work Plan outlines the steps the collaborative’s committees took towards accomplishing the shared goals. View JWW 2019 accomplishments.
2018: The Jersey Water Works 2018 Work Plan outlines the steps the collaborative’s committees took towards accomplishing the shared goals. View JWW 2018 accomplishments.
2017: The Jersey Water Works 2017 Work Plan outlines the steps the collaborative’s committees took towards accomplishing the shared goals. View JWW 2017 accomplishments.
2016: The Jersey Water Works 2016 Work Plan outlines the steps the collaborative’s committees took towards accomplishing the shared goals. View JWW 2016 accomplishments.
2015: The 2015 Objectives were adopted by the group that formed Jersey Water Works, the Urban Water Solutions Working Group.
Why Water Infrastructure Matters to New Jersey
We all consume water and create waste, but seldom think about the underlying pipes, sewers, and utilities that sustain our water usage. Yet our lives depend upon clean drinking water, and robust wastewater and stormwater infrastructure systems support local economies, create strong communities, and protect our environment. Learn more about why water infrastructure matters to New Jersey, what this means for New Jersey’s communities, how smart water investments expand economic opportunities and how common-sense innovations can lower costs.
People Care About Water Infrastructure
People in New Jersey and across the nation prize clean water, they share a concern about their water systems and they are willing to pay more to improve and modernize their water systems. A number of polls reveal people care about water infrastructure.
91 percent of New Jerseyans prioritized protecting the drinking water supply, which outranked nine other issues including improving education and reducing property taxes. (2011, Monmouth University Polling Institute)
62 percent of New Jersey residents said water pollution was a very or somewhat serious problem. (2016, Rutgers-Eagleton Poll)
71 percent of Americans deemed it very important to improve and modernize the water infrastructure system, after being queried as to their assessment of the nation’s and local water infrastructure. (2016, The Value of Water)
90 percent of New Jerseyans believe that investing in water infrastructure should be a priority for the Legislature and Governor. (2018, Jersey Water Works and New Jersey Future)
Many of the collaborative’s efforts involve working with communities and utilities that have combined sewer overflows (CSOs), a problem caused by aging combined (sanitary and stormwater) sewer systems and exacerbated by increasingly intense rainfall events. Early on, the collaborative identified CSOs as the most immediate driver for action given new federal and state regulatory requirement for cities and treatment plants to control them.
Sign up for the JWW monthly newsletter to receive updates on the collaborative’s efforts to upgrade New Jersey’s water infrastructure.
Newsletter archive:
August 2020, July 2020, June 2020, May 2020, April 2020, March 2020, February 2020, January 2020
December 2019, November 2019, October 2019, September 2019, August 2019, July 2019, June 2019, May 2019, April 2019, March 2019, February 2019, January 2019
December 2018, November 2018, October 2018, September 2018, August 2018, July 2018, June 2018, May 2018, April 2018, March 2018, February 2018, January 2018
December 2017, November 2017, October 2017, September 2017, August 2017, July 2017, June 2017, May 2017, April 2017, March 2017, February 2017, January 2017
December 2016, October 2016, September 2016, August 2016, July 2016, June 2016, May 2016, April 2016, March 2016, February 2016, January 2016
December 2015, October 2015, September 2015, August 2015, July 2015, June 2015, May 2015, April 2015, March 2015, January 2015
Image credit: RLSmedia.com
share