City Council Agrees — Hoboken Flooding is a Bad Thing…

The Hoboken City Council voted unanimously to fund the construction of Hoboken’s second flood pump. The 40 million gallon-per day H-5 wet weather pump station—featuring an emergency generator in the event of power failure—will target Hoboken flooding concerns in the western part of town, which includes the historically troublesome area around ShopRite.

“This flood pump is part of the ‘Discharge’ component of the comprehensive ‘Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge’ strategy to make Hoboken more resilient to flooding,” said Mayor Dawn Zimmer. “I thank members of the community and all City Council members for their support for this project. While the City implements the Delay, Store and Discharge elements of the plan through pumps, rain gardens, green roofs, and new parks designed to absorb and hold stormwater, we look forward to working with the State to create coastal defense by implementing the ‘Resist’ strategy with the $230 million won through the Rebuild by Design competition.”

While the installation of this pump seems like a no-brainer—particularly to the water-weary residents of Hoboken’s western edge—discussion over its installation was focused primarily on budgetary concerns. In the end, it was resolved that the pump, along with a pilot City Hall green infrastructure project featuring large cisterns and rain gardens to reduce stormwater runoff, would be financed by an $11.9 million low-interest loan from the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust, which includes 19% principal forgiveness.

(theBoken.com photo)