Rethinking Flood Prevention I: Getting Started

On the front page of yesterday’s Star-Ledger there was a story entitled “Towns must rethink flood prevention, experts say.” There’s a lot to write about this piece, and this opening salvo will be brief.

When I see reference to an “expert,” or multiple “experts,” I usually suspect that it’s going to be a disguised opinion piece. That’s certainly what this one seems to be. After the obligatory reference to climate change, a large portion of the story is devoted to (and supportive of) stormwater “utilities,” a relatively new option for local governments to impose taxes (only they don’t call them that) so that some portion of the money raised can be used to address stormwater runoff.

I plan to talk about stormwater utilities in more detail in an upcoming post.

Jay Bohn
September 13, 2021