10/29/2007 Update:

Here’s some new viewpoints and questions regarding these proposed “holy grail” flooding pumps that were announced with much fanfare recently.

Download the March 2002 flooding report here, and read more below.

2002 NHSA Flooding Report

Hoboken floodingFred Pocci the Executive Director of the North Hudson Sewerage Authority has finally posted on the authority’s web site the “flooding study” completed March 2002.

This is the study Mr. Pocci referred to at last week’s news conference as the basis for installing four “wet weather pump stations” each in a different location along Hoboken’s waterfront from 15th street to Observer Highway in order to solve the flooding problem. In scanning the document, it seems the study was done out of concern only for the ability of emergency vehicles to reach what is now know as the Sky Club (referred to as Gateway One in the study) as well as the many new developments projected for the southwest part of Hoboken when “significant storm events coincide with high tide conditions.”

The study appears to only offer solutions for the westerly most portion of southwest Hoboken for five-year storms. The short term solution (section 2) put forward is the bazaar concept of raising street elevations in the area to allow for the passage of emergency vehicles. This would exacerbate flooding on the properties adjacent to the elevated streets and was probably never acted on for that reason.

The study also offers several long-term solutions to the emergency vehicle access problem. One calls for underground storage tanks for up to 20 million gallons with costs ranging to $67 million (section 3.2). Another offers the instillation of a high capacity, wet weather pumping station near the intersection Harrison and First Streets priced at $32.5 million (section 3.4). All cost projections are in 2002 dollars.

Is it a stretch for NHSA to claim this study concerning emergency vehicle access to the Sky Club offers a reasonable basis for solving Hoboken’s flooding problem by installing four wet weather pumping stations?

10/22/2007 Update:

Here’s the Cablevision news report about last week’s meeting. As you can read from the comments section, this plan is nothing new, and isn’t convincing everyone it’s the end-all solution to our citywide issues with flooding.


Read the previous updates after the jump.

10/19/2007:

Mayor Roberts had a little press conference uptown yesterday regarding plans for installation of four pumps that will pimp Hoboken’s sewer system out, and supposedly help with the flooding.

Where will the water be pumped to? The Hudson? Are the 700 horsepower pumps noisy?

Hoboken pins hopes on pumps

Friday, October 19, 2007
hans-frans-hoboken.jpg“Work to install the first of four new pumps to bail out Hoboken during storms and high tides may start next year – but without the help of NJ Transit, which had been part of an earlier plan.

The plan would be to install four 700-horsepower underground pumps at 15th Street, 11th Street, Fourth Street and at the end of Observer Highway.

Installation of the first pump, at 11th Street, is awaiting final approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection, and officials hope to begin work between the spring and fall of next year. Officials from DEP could not be reached late yesterday for comment.

The whole project would take three to four years to complete.

“We don’t have any choice when there are so many residents suffering,” Mayor David Roberts said. “It is an obligation.”

Assemblyman and Union City Mayor Brian Stack and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, who also serves as U.S. Rep. Albio Sires’ chief of staff, joined Roberts at a press conference yesterday at the headquarters of the North Hudson Sewerage Authority on Adams Street to announce the plan.

The storm water pumps would only operate during the worst flooding, which happens during storms at high tide, but Fred Pocci, executive director of the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, said he could not guarantee an end to all flooding in Hoboken.

Turner said there are no plans to change the combined sewer overflow to a modern system that carries sewage and storm water separately. He said that would be too expensive.

The project, which Pocci estimates would cost somewhere between $25 million and $30 million, would mostly be funded through federal and state funds – with the final cost being determined through the bidding process. Hoboken would have to bond for the remaining cost.

Pocci said the loans would be paid for by a “modest increase in rates.”

The work will be done without help from NJ Transit, which plans to install a new sewer line down Observer Highway as part of a redevelopment plan around Hoboken Terminal. That project is not moving forward fast enough, Turner said.

Pocci said a contribution from the state agency is not necessary anyway.

Hudson County Freeholder Maurice Fizgibbons, D-Hoboken, said he would look into whether any Hudson County funds could be tapped.

“We are no longer wishing on a star to resolve the problems,” said Councilman-at-large Ruben Ramos. “We have plans in place.”

Dawn Zimmer, a candidate for the 4th Ward City Council election in November, who held a flood forum earlier in the week, said she wants short-term solutions – including a wireless system to manage the sewer flow.

“We are still going to have raw sewage in our streets for the next four years,” she said. “We need to look at solutions to alleviate the problem right now.”

Hoboken NJ

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