Sewer Grant Received

A big thank you to Congressman Josh Gottheimer for his successful efforts on Leonia’s behalf to secure a $720,000 straight federal grant (no matching component) for our Sanitary Source System Infiltration Inflow and Rehabilitation. It might not sound glamorous but it is important because Leonia’s sewer system is over 100 years old.  We pay an enormous amount of money each year in our municipal budget (mentioned above at $1 million annually) to the county to process our sanitary sewer flow.  As each year goes by, we have more and more stormwater that infiltrates the sanitary sewer system through cracks/breaks, and we pay for that extraneous flow too.  

This grant allows us to identify infiltration areas, correct the problem and save the $ associated with what we previously paid as part of our sanitary sewer load.  If we curtail just 10% of the current infiltration, and my hope is we will do even better than that, it translates into a $100,000 per year savings for Leonia taxpayers.  

Here is a video clip of my comments thanking Congressman Gottheimer at his press conference for his work on our behalf and explaining more about what this grant for Leonia helps us address.  Watch the full video on Rep. Gottheimer’s Facebook.