South Middlesex Times

Rutgers University researchers will lead several components of a $72.5 million federal initiative to fortify New Jersey's coast against climate change and extreme weather events.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded the grant to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for the Building a Climate Ready New Jersey program. The five-year initiative seeks to enhance climate resilience across the state’s 16 coastal counties — all with tidal waterways — through projects ranging from flood mitigation to workforce development training and student education.

Rutgers will receive about $16 million of the total grant to lead several program components, according to Lisa Auermuller, administrative director of Rutgers' Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub.

In addition to building physical resilience, the funds will develop the next generation of climate resilience experts by providing hands-on experience for Rutgers graduate and undergraduate students across these projects.

"Rutgers is woven throughout the entire grant, touching all stages of the project," Auermuller said. "This grant establishes an official pipeline to implement projects that have completed planning and design."

Christopher Obropta, the Extension Specialist in Water Resources with Rutgers Cooperative Extension and a professor with the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, will lead many of the “shovel-ready” green infrastructure projects. His team will install these resilience strategies in urban communities to manage stormwater and mitigate flooding.

"Of the $9.5 million that are coming to my group, about $7 million will go to building physical projects designed to manage water, and most of the rest will go to educational programs that train people from those communities to build and maintain such projects," Obropta said. "Our focus is on Perth Amboy, Newark, and Paterson."

These cities have combined sewer systems where stormwater and sewage flow through the same pipes. These systems often overflow during heavy rainfall, releasing untreated sewage into local waterways and streets.

"Our goal is to implement systems that capture rainwater before it enters the combined system and causes overflows," Obropta said. "We're separating these waters, holding and treating rainwater, then allowing it to percolate slowly into the ground."

The projects will feature rain gardens built into curb bump-outs and vacant lots, as well as pervious pavement that allows water to seep into underground storage systems.

Rain gardens are green spaces built three to 12 inches below their surroundings to create temporary ponds when storms rage and runoff water fills them. They feature plants that can withstand full submersion for six to 12 hours while water seeps into the ground.

A 200-square-foot rain garden can manage 30,000 gallons of stormwater per year, Obropta said; thus, a network could greatly reduce flooding throughout entire towns.

Permeable parking lots tend to be larger but more costly than regular ones and require semiannual maintenance. “It’s definitely an investment,” Obropta said. “But when you consider preventing costly flooding damage, they can save money overall.”

Obropta emphasized that these solutions will manage stormwater while providing additional benefits such as urban greening which supports pollinators and reduces heat island effects.

To ensure long-term sustainability and help urban economies, Obropta's team will partner with Kean University on a green infrastructure certification program.

"We're focused on training local residents to build and maintain these projects," Obropta said. "This approach keeps money within cities boosting local economies instead of outsourcing work."

Education forms another cornerstone of Rutgers' involvement in this initiative. Auermuller will help oversee this $3 million segment which includes K-12 teacher training alongside expanding MyCoast NJ app usage for crowdsourced coastal monitoring.

“New Jersey leads here,” Auermuller stated. “It’s first in mandating climate education in school curricula integrating real-world lessons about local impacts into classrooms statewide.”

Other Rutgers-led efforts include:

- Updating a coastal restoration project repository tool led by Rick Lathrop.

- Enhancing New Jersey Resilience Toolkit for municipal planning headed by Lucas Marxen at Bloustein School.

Set for Oct 1 launch this five-year initiative builds upon post-Superstorm Sandy resilience work aiming at comprehensive frameworks advancing adaptation projects from conception through completion.