As New Jersey continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy's devastation, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) a $1,097,696 federal grant to assist in recovering from the historic storm.  The grant will help PVSC, the nation's fifth largest wastewater treatment facility, restore critical documents that were damaged by a tidal surge during the storm.

"Hurricane Sandy caused tremendous devastation to our region, particularly to New Jersey's utilities," said Rep. Pascrell.  "PVSC suffered significant damage as a tidal surge overwhelmed the facility, flooding equipment and forcing the facility to cease processing wastewater.  Recovering from this type of destruction requires the full cooperation of local, state and federal resources.  Wastewater treatment facilities like PVSC provide a critical service in protecting our environment and the public's health, so their recovery must remain a priority.  I will continue to fight to ensure our utilities have the resource they need to rebuild and be better prepared for future disasters."

The damaged documents, which have been stored in a frozen environment since the storm, will be restored to as close to a pre-disaster condition as possible for an estimated cost of $1,463,594.94, 75% of which will be funded through the federal grant.  Services include continuation of freezing process at processing plant for the 1,478.4 cf of documents, vacuum freeze drying, sterilizing, fumigating, cleaning, copy prepping, scanning, copy checking, enhancing, and copying to a material close to the original.

FEMA obligates funding for this project directly to the State.  It is the State's responsibility to ensure that the eligible sub-grantee receive this award.  Following the State's review process and upon receipt of appropriate documentation, they will provide funds to the sub-grantee on a reimbursable basis.

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