News

American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) recognizes Outstanding Engineering Achievement at its Annual Conference

Washington, D.C.  On April 29, 2008, the North Hudson
Sewerage Authority (NHSA) and CH2M HILL were honored with a National ACEC Engineering Excellence Honor Award for their collaboration in implementing innovative technologies to support Gold Coast development in Hudson County, NJ.  This award was preceded by a New Jersey ACEC Engineering Excellence Honor Award in December 2007.

For many years, Hudson County communities in New Jersey along the Hudson River had unsightly shorelines of derelict piers or working port areas with no recreational access.  Today, this area is experiencing high-level growth and green-space development.  However, the communities with a population of 145,000 are served by a combined sewer system that is over 150 years old that overflows to the Hudson River at several outfalls during wet weather. 

The Authority is employing traditional methods and innovative technologies to implement CSO controls required by the State of New Jersey.  The Authority's permit includes a requirement to eliminate discharges of solids and floatables greater than a half inch in diameter to New Jersey's water resources.  The Authority was challenged to develop and implement controls on CSO discharges beneath new open spaces, tree-lined esplanades, and luxury developments along New Jersey's Gold Coast.

 

 

 

From left to right: David A. Raymond, ACEC President & CEO; Jim Howey, CH2M HILL Project Director; Bill McMillin, CH2M HILL Senior Technologist; Dr. Richard J. Wolff, NHSA Chairman; Fredric J. Pocci, NHSA Executive Director; Gary Fournier, CH2M HILL-OMI Project Director; and Orrin B. MacMurray, Former ACEC Chairman

The Authority has overcome a number of unique design, permitting,   funding, and construction challenges.  The designs feature an innovative CSO screening technology developed by CH2M HILL.  It is a patented solids and floatables control technology that can be applied over a wide performance range that has minimal aesthetic impacts on the community. It is ideal for deployment where overflows are infrequent yet still require a minimum level of treatment to protect aesthetics.

The Authority started construction work on its $40,000,000 CSO capital program in spring 2002, which includes seven screening facilities of unique design, one proprietary pressurized vortex separation facility, two CSO outfall consolidations, and other related work.  CH2M  HILL performed planning, design, construction management, and other oversight of the work, which is being accomplished through 11 separate construction projects.  The Authority has constructed and is now operating CH2M HILL's patented technology at several of its CSOs, successfully integrated with the community's social, economic, and recreational goals.

"For the Authority, nothing is more important than our commitment to the health and well-being of the Hudson River, one of the nation's greatest waterways," said Dr. Richard J. Wolff, Chairman of the North Hudson Sewerage Authority.  "With this innovative design, CH2M HILL, our partners for 20 years, has made another significant contribution to this effort.  It gives us tremendous satisfaction to see people fishing again from the piers on the Hudson River in the shadows of Manhattan's skyscrapers, knowing that we -- the Authority and CH2M HILL -- have together played a major part in the reclamation of the River"


An alternative energy project involving the installation of a Solar Energy System on the roofs of five existing buildings at the North Hudson Sewerage Authority plant on Adams Street in Hoboken has won a prestigious environmental award.

Representatives of the NHSA were in Atlantic City recently where they received a WAVE Award for Best Management Practices from the Association of Environmental Authorities (AEA) at the organization's annual convention.

According to Richard J. Wolff, NHSA Chairman,"the solar project aids the Authority in doing its part to reduce smog, acid rain and CO2 emissions while conserving natural resources."

"In addition, the approximate annual fiscal benefit to the Authority from energy rebates, direct energy savings and Solar Renewable Energy Certificates is $27,800, even with a costly outlay of $1,216,000," he added.

Overall, the entire project cost $2.6 million, which included construction costs for heating, ventilation and air conditioning improvements to the administration building and restoration of the roofs on four of the plant buildings.

The Solar Energy system uses fixed (non-moveable) photovoltaic (solar energy) panels mounted on the roofs of five existing buildings within the Adams Street Wastewater Treatment Plant. The buildings receiving solar energy panels are the administration building, preliminary facilities building, trickling filter pump station, secondary clarification building and the solids processing building.

The solar energy system will have a total of 821 solar panels and will produce 185,970 KWh of electric energy per year. The energy will be used at the treatment facility.


Fred Pocci is Guest Panelist on Stormwater Needs At League of Municipalities Conference

GUEST PANELISTS - Fred Pocci, Executive Director of the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, center, is flanked, from left to right, by fellow panelists Dennis Hart, Executive Director of the N.J. Environmental Infrastructure Trust; Mayor James Anzaldi of Clifton; Robert Hough, Project Engineer for the Princeton Sewer Operating Committee; and Attorney Robert Beinfield of Hawkins, Delafield and Wood.

The panelists conducted a workshop on "Financing New Jersey's Sewer, Water and Stormwater Needs" at the 92nd Annual Conference of the League of Municipalities held recently in Atlantic City.

Fred Pocci, Executive Director and Engineer for the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, was a guest panelist at the 92nd Annual Conference of the League of Municipalities held in Atlantic City.

Pocci served on the League's workshop panel titled "Financing New Jersey's Sewer, Water and Stormwater Needs" along with Presiding Moderator, Mayor James Anzaldi of Clifton; Dennis Hart, Executive Director of the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust; Robert Hough, Princeton Sewer Operating Committee; and Robert Beinfield, an attorney with the firm of Hawkins, Delafield and Wood.

The panel discussed how aging infrastructure and dwindling open space continue to impact residents' quality of life. They also pointed out that current estimates project more than $15 billion is needed to upgrade older water and sewer systems in New Jersey. In addition, recent state Stormwater regulations have imposed new requirements on municipalities that can be very costly.

Pocci, with probably the most experience in dealing with an aging infrastructure system on the panel, explained the problems faced by the communities the Authority services - Hoboken, Union City, West New York and Weehawken - and how the Authority is financing the projects necessary to keep the system in compliance with regulations.

He also detailed the upgrading of the system completed to date and the role played by the N.J. Environmental Infrastructure Trust financing, and the proposed newly announced project of building four new wet weather pump stations to help relieve the flooding problem in the Southwest section of Hoboken. That project will be paid for jointly by the Sewerage Authority, the City of Hoboken and an assessment on all future developments.

Trust Fund Executive Director Hart pointed out that North Hudson was one of the prime agencies in the state which takes advantage of the fund's low interest loans, thereby saving their clients thousands of dollars in interest and enhancing its ability to bring projects on line much quicker.


AUTHORITY ANNOUNCES PLAN TO SOLVE HOBOKEN FLOODING

North Hudson Sewerage Authority and Hoboken Reach Agreement on $30 Million Deal to Build 4 Wet Weather Pumping Stations
(Hoboken, NJ) The North Hudson Sewerage Authority today announced that an agreement has been reached with the City of Hoboken to finance construction of four wet-weather pumping stations at an estimated cost of $30 million to alleviate the flooding problems in that community.

The announcement came at a press conference held at the Authority's offices and attended by NHSA Executive Director and Authority Engineer Fred Pocci, Hoboken Mayor David Roberts, Union City Mayor and Assemblyman Brian Stack, Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons, and Hoboken Councilmen Ruben Ramos, Peter Cammarano, Michael Russo and Chris Campos.

The four pumping stations will be built underground along the city's waterfront at 15th,11th, 4th streets at the end of Observer Highway. The pumps will only operate during wet weather situations and are seen as a cure to end flooding in Hoboken.

The estimated cost is between $25 Million and $30 Million Dollars. Mayor Stack and Ruben Ramos will seek state funding, Congressman Albio Sires will seek federal funding, and the NHSA will file grant applications for both types of funding.

The first design for the first pumping station at 11th Street has already been conceptually approved by the NJDEP and the Authority expects to begin construction in the Spring-Fall of 2008. The entire project is expected to take between two and three years to complete.

 


Email: info@nhudsonsa.com
Phone: (201) 963-6043
Fax: (201) 963-3907

North Hudson Sewerage Authority
1600 Adams St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030