Overview
- Camden County announced a $400 million countywide water-quality master plan in mid‑July that targets rivers, lakes and streams with project-level cost breakdowns and priorities.
- The plan dedicates $200 million to cut combined sewer overflows by about 90% and includes a major separation of Pennsauken’s combined sewer so stormwater and sewage follow separate paths.
- Officials earmarked $75 million for dredging contaminated sediment, $50 million for sanitary-sewer rehabilitation, $50 million to restore recreational lake areas, and $25 million for green infrastructure like rain gardens and bioswales.
- County leaders are assembling federal and state grants plus low-interest loans from the New Jersey Water Bank and will ask voters on Nov. 3 to raise the open-space tax to $0.03 per $100 assessed value to provide roughly $7 million a year for debt service and ongoing work.
- If voters and funders approve the plan, county officials expect phased implementation over about 10 years with public-health, flood-reduction and local-economic gains—Cooper River events now generate roughly $20 million a year—while execution will require coordination across 35 municipalities.