Southern NJ Wake-Up Call
New Orleans -- late August 2005. Hurricane Katrina leaves a wake of hundreds of thousands homeless. Devastation is repeated along the southern coastline and parts of southern Florida. Property damage measures billions of dollars. It will only worsen with the arrival of a second major category hurricane – Rita – days later. All told, over a thousand people will lose their lives.
Can such a disaster happen in New Jersey? According to weather patterns, the state may be due for another hurricane or major storm. Flooding can be triggered by either storm surges or excessive rain. The last major hurricane to strike the state directly occurred in 1821, the last major Delaware Bay flood (caused by a Nor’easter) in 1962. Hurricane Floyd, which in 1999 wreaked havoc along the Raritan River, had been downgraded to a tropical storm when its center passed just east of the state. The 40-year period from 1961 to 2000 was unusually mild for hurricanes, but in the last five years activity has intensified. And according to the National Weather Service, precipitation totals are also rising across the U.S. Given the acceleration of global warming and climatic change, flooding may only worsen over time.
Is New Jersey protected from a major flood? Evidence suggests that we are not. The state’s flood control infrastructure is old and crumbling, responsibility is fragmented and uncoordinated. A smaller version of last year’s New Orleans disaster is bound to occur in threatened parts of southern New Jersey. Then what can be done to bolster the state’s defenses? This article reviews pressing flood control issues and explores the needed response.
“Meadow Companies” Built Levees in Colonial Times
Because of its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware River, southern New Jersey is vulnerable to flooding. The region is protected by a little-known system of more than 35 earthen levees and associated tide gates originally constructed during Colonial times. Besides being antiquated, these structures are owned by archaic and ineffective legal entities known as “Meadow Companies” or “Meadow Bank Companies” – chartered in the 1800s to “bank” out the tide for harvesting crops on otherwise marshy land.
The crop of choice was salt hay, also known as marsh grass or salt meadow hay. An indigenous grass, salt hay grows naturally in marshes along ocean bays of the eastern coast and requires little cultivation. Later on, farmers found other uses for salt hay besides livestock feed: as insulation, packing material, a key ingredient in brown butcher paper, and many other uses.
The levees were an historical success and New Jersey expanded their reach after it became a state. Salt hay farming expanded well into the 1950s. As New Jersey evolved from an agrarian to an industrial economy, however, modern technology and livestock feeds gradually supplanted salt hay’s original uses. In addition, new environmental protection laws stymied meadowlands’ economic development, thus reducing their fair market value.
Crumbling Infrastructure
Resulting from meadowlands’ economic decline, maintenance and needed improvements of associated levees and tide gates also lapsed. Although they still exist, Meadow Companies are no longer viable. Private industries have provided the needed maintenance; however, such industries may also falter or fail – especially along economically depressed riverfront or bay areas. Levee maintenance then defaults to local governments, which do their best to perform superficial maintenance. Unfortunately, they don’t have the millions of dollars needed to shore up sagging levees or rebuild deteriorating tide gates.
Consequently, South Jersey’s flood protection system functions precariously today. A typical tide gate, which meters water flow between a bay or river and dry land protected by the levee, is 100 years old. Levees are even older, originally built in the 1700s -- earthen barriers anchored on shifting, non-solid foundations often consisting of rotting vegetation. New Jersey’s levees average only eight or nine feet in height above sea level, whereas major storms can surge above 10 feet. To make matters worse, levee banks are continuously threatened by tree growth. High winds can uproot the trees, taking large chunks of earthwork with them and breaching the levee.
It is in the state’s best interests to maintain or improve its levee infrastructure. South Jersey’s ancient flood protection provides many benefits to local residents as well as everyone else, such as the following:
- Preventing major floods in agricultural, residential, commercial and industrial areas
- Protecting domestic and agricultural irrigation water supplies from saltwater intrusion
- Preserving fish and wildlife
- Allowing additional arable land for agricultural uses, including remaining salt hay production
- Controlling mosquitoes and varmints
During the 1960s, the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) funded a total of six dike, tide, or channel improvements in South Jersey. All projects will reach the end of their service lives within the next 10 years. However, many structures cannot survive that long – especially if faced with a major storm or flood.
Four Southern New Jersey Counties at Risk
Vulnerable levees, tide gates and associated structures are concentrated along the Delaware River and bayshore areas. They protect 25 municipalities in four southern New Jersey counties (see previous map):
- Gloucester
- Salem
- Cumberland
- Cape May
Besides protecting farmland -- the original meadows – levees also protect populated areas. Examples include Greenwich and Logan Townships in Gloucester County; Salem City; and Hancocks Bridge, in Salem County, among others.
The Repaupo Levee system, for example, protects at least three-quarters of Gibbstown (350 homes, businesses and churches) and the hamlet of Repaupo. If the Repaupo Levee breaches, then several industrial sites are also threatened as well as the north-south rail line paralleling Route 130.
New Coalition Formed, Pledges Action!
Challenges to upgrading the state’s flood control infrastructure may appear daunting, yet South Jersey has no choice. The alternative – a major flood destroying lives, livelihoods, property and industries – is clearly unacceptable.
Funding and assistance to repair crumbling levee infrastructure could be obtained from several different government sources. To be eligible for such funding, however, South Jersey must investigate the extent and impact of its vulnerable infrastructure and associated risks. An inventory of existing structures must be performed, time-consuming site surveys and inspections conducted.
The good news: we have the talent and resources to address flood control vulnerabilities. Following the recent New Orleans disaster, concerned citizens and public servants began forming a coalition to fix South Jersey’s flood problem. In early February, the coalition’s leaders met and adopted the name “Delaware Estuary Levee Organization.” It comprises representatives from South Jersey county and municipal governments, NRCS, the Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), South Jersey RC&D Council, Inc. (SJRC&D), and New Jersey Senator Steve Sweeney’s office, among others.
The Group’s long-term goal is maintaining and enhancing vulnerable dike and levee systems. It is identifying additional short-term goals and will meet at least monthly until all needed plans are in place. Similar to other state watershed coalitions, it may become an on-going non-profit organization, speaking with one voice to represent local and county governments; to advocate for Federal and/or State funding for regular maintenance; as well as rehabilitating existing levee infrastructure protecting lives and property.
How SJRC&D Will Help
Your SJRC&D Council, in cooperation with this new coalition, is stepping up to the plate. Protecting Southern NJ from floods is everybody’s business! We must act before it’s too late.
SJRC&D is providing its services to the Delaware Estuary Levee Organization .
Where several different organizations are tackling a common problem, SJRC&D could perform a coordinating role. And by coordinating similar activities among the 25 affected South Jersey communities, we can obtain better traction.
SJRC&D is offering to disseminate information and help obtain funding for levee and tide gate repairs. Public information will be available on the SJRC&D website, www.sjrcd.org. Another idea that we encourage transcends levee repair – investigate changing the levees and reconsider what they protect. In other words, to re-examine what South Jersey’s levees are protecting and then alter the infrastructure for maximum benefit.
SJRC&D is committing its active participation and resources to this program. We will keep the public informed, and we invite your input and support for this worthy cause.
For more information on this or related topics please contact SJRC&D Coordinator Ken Taaffe, phone (609) 561-3223 ext. 10 or email to coordinator@sjrcd.org. The author gratefully acknowledges Mr. Gregory Westfall, Water Resource Planner, NRCS; Mr. Kenneth DiMuzio, JD, Solicitor, Greenwich Township, Gloucester County; and Dr. David Robinson, State Climatologist and Chairman, Department of Geography, Rutgers University, for their guidance in researching this article.
-- By Lance Lindstrom