Stormwater Resources

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Trash and Recycling 
--- What Do I Do With...?
---  Recycle Coach
---  Leaf and Brush Collection
---  Bulk Waste
---  Additional Recycling Events
---  Project Medicine Drop

Stormwater Management
--- Stormwater Resources
--- Report Road Salt Spillage

Leave the Leaves
Grasscycling

Clean Communities

Ways to Keep Our Waters Clean

The Ewing Environmental Commission makes the case for keeping your local storm drains clear of debris.  Here they demonstrate the simple task of maintaining/cleaning our storm drains to reduce flooding, water pollution, prevent infrastructure damage and reduce risks to our health.

You too can make a difference in your own backyard to help reduce stormwater runoff and keep our waters clean.

Employ Sustainable Landscaping Practices

1. Reduce your use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.   Change over to organic, natural products.  Do not apply if rain is forecast.  
2. Reduce your lawn size and keep the rest of your property or yard in natural state with native trees and other native vegetation that require little or no fertilizer.
3. Plant a rain garden of native plants, shrubs and trees that reduce the amount of fertilizer needed and provide a way for water to soak into the ground.
4. Plant trees, preferably native varieties, to help reduce erosion. Their leaf canopies help reduce erosion caused by falling rain. They also provide surface area where rain water lands and evaporates. Roots take up water and help create conditions in the soil that promote infiltration.

Reduce Runoff

1. Reduce impervious surfaces such as concrete and asphalt and use pavers and bricks where water can trickle down through the gaps to reach the ground.
2. Grade all areas away from your house at a gentle slope so that water does not seep through the foundation. Once the water has been carried 10 feet from the house, the surface should be graded so that runoff is released gradually.
3. Redirect downspouts and divert rain from paved surfaces onto the grass or rain gardens.  Your goal should be to keep as much rainwater on site as possible. (Here’s a how-to manual to help homeowners build a rain garden - Rutgers Rain Garden Manual of New Jersey.
4. Install a rain barrel(s) to collect rainwater; the rainwater can later be used to water your plants and lawn.

Properly Use and Dispose of Hazardous Products

1. Motor Vehicles.
   Maintain your car properly so that motor oil, brake linings, exhaust, and other fluids don’t contribute to stormwater pollution. Car washing is also a pollution problem because many metals and automotive fluids are washed off with the soapy water, which travels down the gutter collecting more street pollutants, then enters our storm water conveyance system and spills into our waterways and bays. Commercial car washes recycle the water and send it to a wastewater treatment facility.
2. If you have hazardous products in your home or workplace, make sure you store or dispose of them properly such as during Mercer County's Hazardous Waste Disposal Days.  
3. Do not pour any hazardous products down a storm drain because storm drains are usually connected to local water bodies and the water is not treated.
4. Use natural or less toxic alternatives when possible. 

 Dispose of Yard Waste Properly

1. Keep storm drains clean. Keep debris out of the street and away from the storm drains, especially during the leaf and brush pick up seasons.  Leaf and brush materials for pickup should be placed ABOVE the curb, not in the street, properly bagged or containerized.
2. Use leaves and grass clippings as a resource for compost.
3. Use a mulching mower that recycles grass clippings into the lawn. 

Don't Litter

1. Place litter in trash receptacles. 
2. Recycle. Recycle. Recycle.
3. Participate in community cleanups.

Animal Waste 

1. Scoop the Poop.  One gram of pet waste contains 23 million fecal coliform bacteria and does NOT belong in our waterways.  It can suffocate aquatic animals, insects, and fish. Fecal coliform bacteria can cause pneumonia,  abdominal pain, diarrhea, fevers, and possible vomiting in humans.   You can either bag it and dispose of it in the trash, or flush it down the toilet.  Be sure to remove it from the plastic bag before flushing. 

Ryan Rollero, Director of Public Works, email: rrollero@ewingnj.org

Please contact Ryan Rollero, Director of Public Works and MS4 Coordinator for more information and for questions regarding Ewing's  stormwater management program.

The MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) Coordinator is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Township’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit for Stormwater Discharges and the Joint Pollutant Reduction Plan (PRP).  He plans, organizes, and administers the permitting, monitoring, inspection, enforcement, pollution prevention, and data management activities of the Stormwater Program in accordance with Federal, State and local laws and the MS4 permit. Coordinates the investigation of storm water run-off, industry related storm water quality, and water quality problems, complaints and violations of the MS4 Permit and related storm water regulations, initiates and conducts site visits and communicates with property owners and recommends solutions and/or mitigation measures, coordinates preparation of violation notices as necessary. 

Municipal Stormwater Pollution Protection Plan for the Township of Ewing, adopted June 2005 and describes how we implement the permit requirments in regards to our stormwater program.

Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan for the Township of Ewing, Revised to December 2020.  November 2020.

SP3 - Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan: Ewing Township.  Updated May 30, 2024 

Check the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection website to learn more about what you can do to improve our water quality.

• Healthy Lawns – Healthy Water
• Pet Waste and Water Pollution - fact sheet 
• Leave the Leaves - Learn about our Mulch in Place recommendations in support of Ewing Township Ordinance 21-08 that mandates that leaves and other yard debris (including grass) must be bagged in biodegradable paper bags or containers.  This recommendation encourages all property owners to see leaves as a valuable resource that shouldn't go to waste every fall.  Leaves piled at the curb can create safety hazards for drivers and wash into storm drains, clogging storm sewers.  Leaves decaying on the street release nutrients such as phosphate and nitrogen that eventually wash into our rivers.  Check out our informational pages for homeowners and landscapers.
• Leave the Leaves - A part of a sustainable landscaping campaign by the Ewing Green Team, managing your fall leaf drop on your own property will not only benefit wildlife, nourish your soil and plants, reduce stormwater runoff and pollution, but also Township operating costs through reduced man-hours. 

NJ Green Infrastructure
A NJ DEP site that explains how development practices affect our watersheds and promotes green stormwater practices.
Clean Water New Jersey 
A NJ DEP site that educates the public as to what they can do to promote and protect our waterways in NJ.
NJ Stormwater
The NJDEP's stormwater web site for stormwater management professionals and permittees. Here you'll find links to technical information, guidance materials, forms, and applications.
New Jersey Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual
Developed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, in coordination with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, the New Jersey Department of Transportation, municipal engineers, county engineers, consulting firms, contractors, and environmental organizations.
The Watershed institute 
Leads the fight to preserve our region’s water and land. They developed an Enhanced Model ordinance based on the NJDEP's model ordinance to assist local communities in creating their ordinances.

These are the ordinances Ewing has in regard to stormwater pollution. Click on each one to learn more about how each protects our stormwater.

• Stormwater Control Ordinance (Revision adopted 3/26/24)  
  This ordinance establishes minimum stormwater management requirements and controls for major developments and establishes stormwater management measures using Best Management Practices to achieve flood control, groundwater recharge, and pollutant reduction.
• Private Retrofitting Ordinance  
  This requires the retrofitting of existing storm drain inlets which are in direct contact with repaving, repairing, reconstruction, or resurfacing or alterations of facilities on private property, to prevent the discharge of solids and floatables (such as plastic bottles, cans, food wrappers and other litter) to the municipal storm sewer system(s) operated by the Borough of Hi-Nella so as to protect public health, safety and welfare.
• Curbing of Dogs  
  It is unlawful for the owner to allow their dog to soil, defile, defecate or commit any nuisance upon any public or private property whatsoever, except with the express authority or permission of the owner of the property.  This prevents fecal contamination from impacting the local waterways.
• Litter Ordinance
  It is unlawful for any person or entity to place upon, deliver, deposit, drop upon, throw upon, leave or abandon within or upon any public or private property any garbage, cans, bottles, cartons and any other type of refuse whatsoever, or any handbills, advertisements, brochures, flyers, shoppers, samples or other unsolicited commercial matter, printed or otherwise, of every kind or nature whatsoever.  This prevents unsightly & unsanitary conditions & prevents litter from impacting waterways.
• Improper Disposal of Waste §319 Article IV (09-13-2005)  
  This states that it is illegal to dispose of waste in any place not specifically designated for the purpose of solid waste storage or disposal. The purpose is to prevents unsanitary conditions and groundwater pollution.
• Wildlife Feeding Ordinance  
  Feeding of waterfowl on municipal park property is prohibited by Ordinance. The Township enacted the Ordinance as a method to reduce waterfowl population in response to health concerns regarding bacteria which is harmful to humans and fish populations.
• Yard Waste Collection Program §319-31 (04-14-21) 
  Yard waste is regulated by Ordinance which establishes the current zone collection system and the methods of collecting leaves, brush, and other yard waste. The purpose is to keep leaves and grass out of the storm sewer system.
• Illicit Connection 
  

  This makes it unlawful to connect any pipe or device to the municipal storm sewer system that is intended to discard, spill or dump any material other than stormwater runoff or ground water (sump pumps) into the system. The purpose of this Ordinance is to prevent pollution and contamination of waterways which receive discharge from our storm sewers.

• Refuse Container / Dumpster Ordinance§215-64

• Tree Removal and Replacement Ordinance
• Salt Storage Ordinance

Map of Ewing stormwater outfalls provided by the NJDEP.  (Click on the map for a larger version.)  This map serves as a temporary listing of the outfalls until Ewing ArcGIS mapping is completed according to the updated State of New Jersey stormwater regulations.