![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Jersey-City-street-e1787502540811.png\")
<\/a>Photo courtesy of Boris Ioffe.<\/p>\nEvery heavy rain in Jersey City brings the same unacceptable reality: flooded streets, overflowing sewers, toxic wastewater on sidewalks, and sewage backing into people\u2019s homes.<\/p>\n
At this point our schools might as well plan for emergency flash flood days and delayed\u00a0 openings as they do for snow days. Residents and taxpayers deserve better.<\/p>\n
In 2011 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency entered into major enforcement actions and a consent decree settlement with the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority (JCMUA) regarding Clean Water Act violations and combined sewer system overflows<\/a>, to compel long-overdue sewer system remediation.<\/p>\n Yet years later, many flood-prone neighborhoods in Jersey City continue to experience repeated sewer overflows, while residents receive no transparent information about the city\u2019s repair priorities, project timelines, or measurable progress.<\/p>\n More pumping capacity is needed in the areas that flood most frequently, and the public deserves regular, accessible reporting on what is being fixed, when, and at what cost. When residents are being asked to endure a tax increase, it should translate into a real infrastructure investment.<\/p>\n Instead, we have recently observed\u00a0 Mayor James Solomon and local elected officials visibly champion \u201cMake Polluters Pay\u201d legislation<\/a>, presenting themselves as leaders on environmental responsibility, without taking action on the ongoing pollution impacting our community right here and right now.<\/p>\n While holding polluters accountable is a worthy goal, Jersey City families are forced to contend with toxic sewage spilling onto their sidewalks and into their basements after every major rainstorm, not to mention the heavy, sickening residual fumes that remain for days after the water levels recede making it impossible to open windows.<\/p>\n According to the EPA<\/a>, raw sewage carries bacteria, viruses, parasitic organisms, intestinal worms, and inhaled molds and fungi. <\/a><\/p>\n As a result, they may cause diseases ranging in severity from mild gastroenteritis to life-threatening ailments such as cholera, dysentery, infections hepatitis, and severe gastroenteritis.<\/p>\n Residents should not have to live with these constant environmental hazards in their own neighborhoods while their elected officials focus on generating headlines, instead of remediating pollution in Jersey City.<\/p>\n That is performative politics\u2014not practical leadership.<\/p>\n In fact, it would be great to see our elected officials do photo ops next to raw sewer spills in our streets, as they did sporting shovels during a snowstorm, but be warned \u2013 this stench may prove too much for the delicate noses of our elected elites.<\/p>\n As Jersey City Republican leaders, we believe quality of life for local residents and taxpayers must come first. That is what our taxes and exorbitant utility fees pay for.<\/p>\n That means accelerating sewer remediation projects, installing additional pumps in flood-prone areas, ensuring immediate cleanup of hazardous sewer spills throughout the city, and providing the public with a transparent, regularly updated roadmap for sewer improvements.<\/p>\n It also means making sure every new development contributes meaningfully to the infrastructure it relies upon and to the community it profits from.<\/p>\n