Petition urges US Army Corps of Engineers to implement Rahway river flooding mitigation

UNION COUNTY / ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A Change.org petition at https://tinyurl.com/2p8k3wsf has garnered more than 6,000 signatures calling for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to implement flood control plans along the Rahway River, which has a long history of overflowing and causing severe flooding. The petition, which urges for the finalization of a Rahway River flood-mitigation plan and passage of USACE funding for construction of Rahway River flood mitigation, has been forwarded to federal and state leaders.

The Mayors Council Rahway River Watershed Flood Control, which was organized after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, consists of mayors, township committee members, engineers and township administrators serving communities along the Rahway River and has been working with the USACE and N.J. Department of Environmental Protection to come to a solution to protect residents.

In January, the USACE announced its allocation of funds of $1.5 million to complete the flood protection feasibility study it had started after Tropical Storm Irene. The USACE previously evaluated 21 alternatives and even sent the entire evaluation to the New England Army Corps office, which is known for its expertise on dams. The study is now back with the New York office of the USACE. 

The effort has had a strong legislative history, including passage of the Federal Water Resources Development Act in the past year, which made the Rahway River study a national priority. Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, and U.S. Reps. Donald Payne Jr. and Tom Malinowski have been leading supporters of funding the evaluation.

A resumption of meetings will start soon including further evaluation of the proposal to develop upstream storage at the Orange Reservoir in the South Mountain Reservation through a bypass that meets federal standards, dredging or changes to the dam. The Mayors Council preference has been a bypass that could lower the water in the reservation either seasonally or prior to a major storm. Such peak storm storage would directly benefit Millburn, Maplewood, Union and Springfield. Upstream storage is required for downstream improvements to provide additional downstream river capacity. The downstream improvements included increasing the height of the Lenape Park embankment dams, 1.5 miles of natural channelization through Cranford and flood mitigation measures in the city of Rahway.

  Mayors Council, Orange Reservoir, Rahway River, South Mountain Reservation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers