Update Rahway River Flood Mitigation Plan Jan 9, 2021
Status and Outlook

A restart of the Rahway River flood
control effort took place at the end of 2020. Led by Rep.
Tom Malinowski, Senator Cory Booker, Senator
Robert Mendendez and Rep. Donald Payne, the
Federal Water Resources Development Act of 2020 was
enacted into law which included the Rahway River
Flood Mitigation Plan as a national priority.

Local communities have been working towards a
consensus plan that will achieve a US Army Corps of
Engineers agreement. The Mayors Council, Union
County, City of Orange and Essex County have meet
several times in past few months to have a consensus
on a plan. Next will be introduction meetings with
the NJ DEP and US Army Corps engineers to reach a
tentatively selected plan that could reduce flooding in
region.

After Irene and its significant damages, the US Army
Corps did assess 17 different alternatives. The
Mayors Council urged that no solution is not an
option and in 2021 a new plan to fix what can be
fixed is the goal.

Organized at a meeting at
Union County College  after
Irene, the the Mayors Council direction has been to
continue to keep the region’s
mayors engaged to work with
state and federal officials to
arrive at solutions to flooding
in the communities of
Millburn, Springfield,
Maplewood, Union,
Cranford, Garwood,
Kenilworth , and Rahway.
Inter-local agreements have
been signed annually to support
the initiative to find a solution
that could provide the flood
mitigation that is possible. In
2018, the Chief Engineer of the
US Army Corps of Engineers
stated the work would lead to a
solution. US Army Corps
could not resolve issues that
caused them recently to leave
the study with the flooding
problem remaining. In 2020,
our responsive federal
legislative representatives were
able to get into the Federal Water
Resources Development Act (WRDA)
language that stated the Rahway River
Flood Mitigation effort was a national
priority and a federal solution had to be
found.

For more information contact Mayors Council
Rahway River Watershed Flood Control
coordinator daschenbach@verizon.net

Citizens need to urge action!