There is a question that comes before the permit question, and it catches developers cold: can your project connect to the sewer at all? In parts of New Jersey the answer is no, and it has nothing to do with your paperwork. It is about whether the treatment plant downstream of you has room.
What a sewer ban actually is
NJDEP imposes a sewer connection ban on the area served by a treatment plant when that plant is failing its NJPDES discharge permit limits, or when the conveyance system does not have adequate capacity. In NJDEP's words, the purpose "is to limit further pollution by restricting additional sewage flow to the non-conforming treatment works."
There is a second version worth knowing about. A moratorium can be imposed when existing flows plus the flows already allocated to approved projects that are not yet operational reach 100 percent of the plant's permitted capacity. That one matters because the capacity can be gone before the buildings that will use it exist. Somebody else's approved-but-unbuilt project can be sitting on the room you were counting on.
The early warning is public, and almost nobody looks at it
Before a ban, there is the Capacity Assurance Program. It engages when a plant's average flow over 12 consecutive months, as reported in its Discharge Monitoring Reports, reaches or exceeds 95 percent of its permitted flow. At that point the owner or operator has to prepare a Capacity Analysis Report, due within 180 days.
Here is the useful part. NJDEP publishes the underlying numbers. There is a customizable report tool showing each municipal facility's 12-month average flow as a percentage of its permitted flow, for both surface water and ground water dischargers, along with published annual reports. Anyone can look up how close the plant serving a site is to the threshold.
If you are deciding whether to buy a parcel, or how to phase a build, the percentage on that report is a more honest read on your sewer risk than any assurance you will get in a meeting.
What triggers a Capacity Analysis Report
| Trigger | What it means for a project |
|---|---|
| Existing flows approach the design capacity of the conveyance system | The pipes, not just the plant, can be the constraint |
| Excessive infiltration and inflow in the conveyance system | Groundwater and stormwater leaking into the sanitary system eats capacity you cannot see |
| The system is hydraulically connected to a combined sewer system, or to a plant receiving flow from municipalities with one | Your capacity can be affected by a problem several towns away |
| An unpermitted discharge from the treatment works, including sanitary sewer overflows | An overflow event can start the process regardless of your project |
| 12-month average flow equals or exceeds permitted flow, and a municipality or sewage authority has not cooperated with the required capacity analysis | Administrative failure by others can still land on you |
If you are already in a ban area
There is an exemption route. NJDEP's form WFR-001 is the Application for Exemption from a Sewer Connection Ban, and questions go to the Capacity Assurance Program in the Bureau of Ground Water, Residuals and Permit Administration.
Two practical points. An exemption is a separate approval with its own timeline, not a footnote on your main application. And a copy of the sewer connection ban exemption approval is itself a required item in the Treatment Works Approval package where new flow is involved, so the exemption has to come first. We walk through the rest of that package in the Treatment Works Approval guide.
The order to do this in
- Find out which treatment plant your site is tributary to. Your municipal engineer or the sewerage authority will tell you.
- Check that plant against NJDEP's flow-versus-permitted-capacity reports. A number in the nineties is a warning even if no ban exists yet.
- Ask the sewerage authority directly whether there is a ban or a moratorium, and whether capacity has already been allocated to approved projects.
- If there is a ban, start the WFR-001 exemption before anything else.
- Then the Treatment Works Approval, then design, then the pipe schedule.
Doing this in the other order is how a project discovers in month five that it has nowhere to send its wastewater.
Common questions
What is a sewer connection ban in New Jersey? A restriction NJDEP imposes on adding new sewage flow to a treatment works that is failing its discharge permit limits, or where the conveyance system lacks adequate capacity. It applies to the area served by that plant, not to your project specifically.
How do I find out if my site is in one? Ask the sewerage authority or municipal engineer which plant you are tributary to, then ask them directly about bans and moratoriums. NJDEP also publishes reports showing each municipal plant's 12-month average flow as a percentage of its permitted flow, which tells you how close to the line it is.
What is the 95 percent number? The Capacity Assurance Program threshold. When a plant's 12-consecutive-month average flow reaches or exceeds 95 percent of permitted flow, the owner has to prepare a Capacity Analysis Report within 180 days. It is the early warning before a ban.
Can capacity run out even if the plant is not full? Yes, and this is the one that surprises people. A moratorium can be imposed when existing flows plus flows allocated to approved but not yet operational projects reach 100 percent of permitted capacity. Approved projects hold capacity before they are built.
Is there a way around a ban? An exemption, applied for on NJDEP form WFR-001 through the Capacity Assurance Program. It is a separate approval, and where new flow is involved a copy of the exemption approval is a required item in the Treatment Works Approval package, so it comes first.
Does this affect septic projects? No. Sewer bans are about flow to a public treatment works. A site on septic runs under a different rule entirely, which we cover in how a septic installation actually goes.
Where we fit
We install the mains, structures and connections, and we are not your engineer or your sewerage authority. What we can do is tell you at the estimate which of these questions is sitting in front of the work, so the sequence above starts early instead of late. Our scope is on the water and sewer main installation page.
Sources
- NJDEP Division of Water Quality, Capacity Assurance Program, the 95 percent threshold, the Capacity Analysis Report and its 180-day deadline, the triggers listed above, the sewer ban and moratorium provisions, the flow-versus-permitted-capacity report tools, and the WFR-001 exemption application.
- N.J.A.C. 7:14A-22, Treatment Works Approvals, Sewer Bans and Sewer Ban Exemptions.
This is general information, not engineering or permitting advice for your project. Your sewerage authority, your engineer and NJDEP decide what applies to your site.