Jersey City, NJ Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Article VI of the Jersey City Code, codified at § 345-74 (Stormwater Control), responds directly to the city's combined sewer system: storm and sanitary flows share the same pipes, and heavy rain routinely overwhelms capacity, triggering combined sewer overflow (CSO) events that dump untreated sewage into nearby waterways. Section 1 states the ordinance exists to cut pollution from CSOs and separate sewer discharges, reduce flooding and streambank erosion, and promote on-site rainwater reuse. a sets the applicability trigger: any development that adds, replaces, or disturbs 1,000 or more square feet of impervious surface, where that work alters more than 50 percent of a site's existing impervious or regulated motor-vehicle surface, must bring the entire existing development into compliance, not just the new work.

A. 4:24-39) and mandates green infrastructure, bioretention, pervious pavement, green roofs and similar practices tabled in Section 5, for groundwater recharge, runoff quantity, and runoff quality. 25 inches of rain in two hours), rising to 95 percent removal for discharges within a 300-foot riparian buffer of Category One waters. Section 9 caps post-construction peak runoff for the two-, ten- and 100-year storms at or below pre-construction rates. 6 gallons of stormwater retained on-site per square foot of impervious surface. D exempts underground utility lines, improved above-ground utility lines, and pedestrian paths up to 14 feet wide built of permeable material.

2, until a city official issues written findings after technical review, through a Site Development Stormwater plan under Section 14 that the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority (JCMUA) helps review.