And guess who's going to be footing this bill?
Oh yes... US!!!!! The ones that are currently paying our taxes, while the properties that get the abatements don't have to pay for, another 20 YEARS????

GIVE US SMALL PROPERTY OWNERS A BREAK!!!!!!

NO MORE TAX ABATEMENTS!!!!!!

I'm glad this is being addressed with all the new growth and how City Hall hands out tax abatements hand over fist. There's not enough money to adequately support the infrastructure.

Jersey City tries to ease burden on aging sewer lines

by Ken Thorbourne
Sunday March 30, 2008, 4:23 PM

Roughly 13 percent of sewer lines in an area that covers about half of Jersey City face imminent collapse, according to a recent study.

And the Jersey City Municipal Utilities -- the agency that sends out and collects water bills -- -- has a $47.9 million response.

The MUA plans to carry out five "special projects" to divert water away from the city's oldest sewer pipes and pump less into the Hackensack River and more to water treatment facilities, officials said.

The plan is based on a $350,000 study conducted by New York-based environmental consultant Malcolm Pirnie in an area that included most of Downtown, the Heights, and the West Side, mostly north of Communipaw Avenue.

"We are acutely aware of the age of our sewer system," most of which was built 90 to 125 years ago, said MUA Executive Director Daniel Becht. "This study has given us focus."

The plan calls for spending $3 million to pump more rainwater to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority, which has a treatment plant in Newark, officials said.

In Jersey City, rainwater and sewage flows through the same pipes. The water that floats on top is diverted to the Hackensack while the rest of it is steered toward the treatment facility.

Roughly $19 million will be spent on removing sediment from the pipes, MUA officials said. And two other projects, totaling roughly $26 million, would use barrels to collect rain water before it enters the sewer lines.

MUA officials plan to spend another $350,000 to examine the rest of the sewer lines in the city. Jersey City has 230 miles of sewer pipes and a total overhaul would cost $378 million, said MUA Chief Engineer Joseph Beckmeyer.