(Insert County Name) County Wastewater Management Plan

(Insert County Name) County Wastewater Management Plan

Amending the Following Areawide Water Quality Management Plans:

(Insert Relevant Plan Names Here; e.g. Upper Raritan, Northeast)

Submitted by the Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of (Insert County name)

Date of Current Submittal: (Insert Date)

Approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection:

Prepared By:

(Insert name, title, agency, address and phone number)

1

Draft april 6 2017

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 2

List of Tables 4

List of Maps 5

I. Wastewater Management Planning Area 6

Background {optional} 6

Wastewater Management Planning Area 7

Status of Previous Approved Local and Regional WMPs Affected by the County WMP 7

II. Summary of Actions 9

Sewer Service Area Delineation Criteria 9

Eligible Sewer Service Areas 9

Environmentally Sensitive Areas 9

Treatment Works Approvals (if applicable) 11

Adopted Amendments and Revisions 11

Sewer Service in the Pinelands (if applicable) 11

Sewer Service in the Highlands (if applicable) 12

Septic System Development within the Sewer Service Areas 12

Non-Sewer Service Areas 13

Planning Coordination 13

Designated Planning Agency (if applicable) 13

Delaware River Basin Commission (if applicable) 13

New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (formerly the Meadowlands Regional Commission) (if applicable) 13

III. Existing and Future Wastewater Treatment Facilities 14

Overview of Wastewater Services and Wastewater Responsibilities 14

Existing Public Wastewater Treatment Works and Service Area 14

Combined Sewer Overflows (if applicable) 14

Wastewater Facility Tables 14

IV. Wastewater Treatment Capacity Analysis - Sewer Service Area 19

Calculating Existing Wastewater Flows 19

Existing Development 19

Projecting Future Wastewater Flows 19

Wastewater Demand Projections in Urbanized Municipalities’ Sewer Service Areas 19

Wastewater Demand Projections in Non-Urban Municipalities’ Sewer Service Areas 20

Assigned Sewer Service Area Capacity Analyses 21

Unassigned Sewer Service Area Capacity Analyses 21

V. Nitrate Dilution Analysis - Non-Sewer Service Area 24

Wastewater Demand Projections in Non-Sewer Service Areas 24

Adequacy of Septic Carrying Capacity (Nitrate Dilution) in Non-Sewer Service Areas 25

VI. Strategies to Mitigate Potential Capacity Deficiencies 26

Strategies to Mitigate Capacity Deficiency in Sewer Service Areas 26

Strategies to Mitigate Capacity Deficiency in Non-Sewer Service Areas 29

VII. Septic Management Plan 31

VIII. Mapping 32

Appendix A – Municipal Sewer Service Area Buildout Results 36

Municipality A 36

Municipality B 37

Municipality C 38

Appendix B – Municipal Non-Sewer Service Area Buildout Results 39

Municipality A 39

Municipality B 41

Municipality C 42

List of Tables

Table / Title / Page
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 

List of Maps

County Maps:

Maps / Title / Page
1.  / WMP Area
2.  / Selected Environmentally Sensitive Features
3.  / Wastewater Service Areas
4.  / County–wide Zoning
5. / Other

Municipal Maps:

Maps / Title / Page
1M
2M
3M
4M
5M
6M

I. Wastewater Management Planning Area

Background {optional}

In 2008, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection adopted major amendments to the Water Quality Management Planning rules, N.J.A.C. 7:15-1 et seq. The amended rules gave each County Board of Chosen Freeholders the responsibility to prepare wastewater management plans for all its municipalities. Before this, that responsibility was the obligation of wastewater management planning agencies that also had responsibility for constructing and operating wastewater treatment plants. In [insert name of County] County, these agencies included municipalities, sewerage or utility authorities serving a single municipality or regional sewerage or utility authorities serving multiple municipalities.

In addition to changing the entities accountable for preparing wastewater management plans, the 2008 rules added significant new requirements for plan contents. County plans were to include a distinct chapter for each municipality within the county and were to be submitted as a whole to NJDEP no later April 7, 2009. Most significantly, if the plan submission deadline was not met, the rules called for withdrawal of wastewater service area designations. The deadline for submission was subsequently extended until April 7, 2011 by Administrative Order No. 2010-03 signed by Commissioner Martin on March 24, 2010.

In April of 2011, few, if any, counties had submitted a county-wide wastewater management plan. The resultant withdrawal of wastewater service area designations mandated by the rules was having a detrimental impact on much of the new development proposed in the State at a time when the economy was beginning to show signs of recovery after the recent recession. In response, legislation was introduced in December of 2011, swiftly adopted by the Assembly and Senate, and signed into law by Governor Christie on January 17, 2012.

P.L. 2011, c. 203, stipulated that no wastewater service area designation be withdrawn but shall remain in effect for 180 days following enactment of the law. Wastewater planning agencies were then required to submit at least that portion of a wastewater management plan designating a sewer service area within that same 180-day period, or by July 17, 2012. The law also gave planning agencies the ability to submit other portions of a wastewater management plan in additions to the portion designating a sewer service area and granted NJDEP explicit authority to adopt portions of a plan. Furthermore, the legislation allowed NJDEP to approve inclusion of areas within a sewer service area despite the fact that existing treatment plants may not have the assured capacity to treat wastewater from that area without infrastructure improvements or permit modifications. P.L. 2011, c. 203 was to expire on January 17, 2014.

On [insert date] by Resolution No. [insert resolution #], the [insert name of] County Board of Chosen Freeholders approved a Future Wastewater Service Area map as the first phase of development of the county-wide wastewater management and authorized submission of that map to DEP for consideration as an amendment to the [insert WQMP area] Water Quality Management Plan. A public hearing to take comment on the map was held on [insert date] and on [insert date] NJDEP adopted the Future Wastewater Service Area map as an amendment to the [insert WQMP area] Water Quality Management Plan.

In January 2014, P.L. 2011, c. 203, was amended, supplemented and enacted as P.L. 2013, c. 188 (hereafter P.L. 2013, c.188), modifying the water quality management planning process. P.L. 2013, c.188 was to expire on January 17, 2016, or upon the reauthorization and adoption of Water Quality Management Planning rules, N.J.A.C. 7:15 et seq.), whichever was to come first. Similarly, to the P.L. 2011, c. 203, Section 9 of P.L. 2013, c. 188 provided that upon adoption of the designation of a sewer service area pursuant to the Water Quality Management Planning rules, portions of the wastewater management plan (WMP), now referred to as “WMP components”, may be submitted for review and subsequent adoption, in phases in a sequential or other manner deemed timely or expedient by NJDEP.

The purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (WMP) for insert name of County, pursuant to the newest Water Quality Management Planning rules, adopted October 6, 2016 and published in the New Jersey Register on November 7, 2016. The WMP has been submitted to the NJDEP for approval so that it may be incorporated into the [insert name of relevant WQMP(s)] Water Quality Management Plan[s] via the plan amendment procedure at N.J.A.C. 7:l5-3.

Wastewater Management Planning Area

{Use this section to describe the overall WMP Area and the growth/preservation goals of the County. Municipal or County Master Plans can be referenced}

As of the date of submittal, wastewater management planning responsibility for the full County remains with the County Board of Chosen Freeholders and no alternative assignments have occurred pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:15-2.8.

{or if there is an alternative assignment of WMP responsibility include the following} As of the date of submittal, wastewater management planning for the full County remains with the County Board of Chosen Freeholders, except in the municipalities identified in Table __ below, who have requested alternative assignment of WMP responsibility pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:15-2.8.

Table 1. Municipalities Not Addressed in the County WMP

The County Board of Chosen Freeholders has identified [insert entity] as the County agency charged with WMP preparation and maintenance. Any proposed revisions or amendments to this wastewater management plan shall be submitted to [name of entity] at [insert address].

Status of Previous Approved Local and Regional WMPs Affected by the County WMP

The WQMP rule provides that any WMP that was prepared and adopted in accordance with the WQMP rules in effect as of July 7, 2008, or P.L. 2011, c. 203 as amended and supplemented by P.L. 2013, c. 188, will continue in effect for the remainder of the term for which it was originally approved. Therefore, WMPs that were fully compliant with the 2008 rules maintain their expiration date as provided at the time of adoption. A WMP component[1] may be incorporated as is into the County WMP, taking on the same update schedule as the County WMP. In the County, the previously approved WMPs and WMP components {adjust accordingly} listed in Table 2 are still considered current, until the update date as noted.

Table 2. Current WMPs and WMP Components /
WMP[Component] / Municipalities / Adoption Date / Update Date /

The following previously adopted WMPs have been replaced (superseded) by this County WMP:

· 

II. Summary of Actions

Sewer Service Area Delineation Criteria

This chapter describes the criteria used for the delineation of areas eligible for sewer service area and includes a description of the number of acres added and/or subtracted from the area eligible for sewer service. {include the following statement if including Strategies as a WMP component} Strategies to address any potential capacity deficiencies identified in the wastewater treatment capacity and nitrate dilution analyses are discussed in Chapter VI.

Eligible Sewer Service Areas

The term “Eligible for sewer service area” means areas determined to meet the criteria for designation as sewer service in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:15-4.4, and are identified as “Assigned sewer service area”, differentiating between area that currently conveys sewage to each existing facility and that which is proposed to convey sewage to each existing or proposed facility; or “Unassigned sewer service area”, which are areas mapped for future sewer service with no designated treatment facility.

Environmentally Sensitive Areas

Under the WQMP rules, large contiguous environmentally sensitive areas, or “ESAs”, defined as 25 acres or larger consisting of habitat for threatened and endangered species as identified on the Landscape Project Maps of Habitat for Endangered, Threatened or Other Priority Species, Natural Heritage Priority Sites, Category One special water resource protection areas, and wetlands, alone or in combination, should be excluded from areas eligible for sewer service. Additionally, Coastal Fringe Planning Areas, Coastal Rural Planning Areas, or Coastal Environmentally Sensitive Planning Areas identified on the CAFRA Planning Map, shall not be identified as eligible for sewer service area.

However, the WQMP rule provides, at N.J.A.C. 7:15 – 4.4(i)-(l) and 4.4 (f), several exceptions which allow ESAs and CAFRA areas to be included in areas eligible for sewer service. Table 3 documents the environmentally sensitive areas which have been included in the SSA, noting pertinent decision documents, and the change in the SSA acreage.

Table 3. ESAs to be included in Sewer Service Area
Municipality / Block/Lot / Determination/Date / Sewer Service Acres
Muni A / 124/25.06 / LOI#/ 12-12-16 / +6.0
HSD#/ 12-22-16
HIA# – 10-2-12
Muni B / Xx/xx / Planning Area 1
Endorsed Plan [include name of plan]
Infill development
Error in DEP GIS coverage
CAFRA
Muni A / Xx/xx / USEPA 201 Grant Waiver/Map Revision/ 12-25-2016 / +25.0

LOI – Letter of Interpretation which demonstrates an area is not wetlands. The LOI # as well as the date of the Department’s determination should be included.

HSD – A Habitat Suitability Determination prepared pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:15-4.6 that demonstrates that an area is not suitable habitat for endangered or threatened wildlife species or that the habitat does not contain and no longer supports the natural resource element that caused the area to identified as a natural Heritage Priority Site;

NOTE: Natural Heritage Priority Sites may be included in the SSA only if the DEP determines that the proposed project or activity avoids or does not adversely impact natural resource element(s) occurring within the Natural Heritage Priority Site. In order to make this determination, the Department shall consider data provided by the applicant as part of a Habitat Suitability Determination as provided at N.J.A.C. 7:15-4.6, or upon review of a Habitat Impact Assessment prepared in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:15-4.7.

Planning Area 1, Endorsed Plan, and Infill Development - With the exception of Natural Heritage Priority Sites, CAFRA, and areas with Federal 201 Grant conditions, ESAs can be included in areas eligible for sewer service if the ESA is located in an area of an endorsed plan identified for growth and approved by the State Planning Commission or located within Planning Area 1 as defined in the State Plan Policy Map in the State Development and Redevelopment Plan; or included to accommodate infill development[2], or to remove undulations in the sewer service area boundary as necessary to create a linear boundary that coincides with recognizable geographic, political, or environmental features depicted in DEP GIS coverages AND the Department has determined that such areas are not critical to the survival of a local population of endangered or threatened wildlife species; AND the ESAs remain subject to the Department’s regulatory permitting programs on a site specific basis.

Error in DEP GIS coverage - An applicant may also rebut the presumption that an ESA is accurate by providing the following information for the DEP to review:

·  Updated version of Landscape mapping;

·  Any other information that demonstrates that the DEP’s GIS coverage is inaccurate a particular location.

USEPA 201 Grant Waiver/Map Revision - ESAs in which 201 Facilities Plan grant limitations prohibit the extension of sewer service shall not be included in areas designated as eligible for sewer service area, unless documentation is provided demonstrating that a mapping revision or waiver has been obtained from the USEPA. Federal grant conditions (from Federal and State grants or loans awarded to sewerage facilities) can restrict the limits of sewer service. In ______County, Federal grant conditions impact the sewer service area of the ______where development is restricted in wetlands and floodplains. These restricted areas may be included in the sewer service area if a map revision or grant waiver has been approved by USEPA. {Approximate the # of acres of wetlands and floodplains that have been removed from the SSA due to Federal Grant Conditions, as well as acreage of areas included back in the SSA}