Seaside Park Plans Underground Pumps, Sewer Vacuum for Flood Control

Flooding during a typical high tide on a fair-weather day in Seaside Park along Bayview Avenue, Feb. 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)

Seaside Park officials are moving forward with a plan to utilize an underground pump system, as well as a new means of clearing storm drains, in its long quest to control flooding on the bayside.

The borough council last week passed a resolution partnering with Ocean County on a multi-phase project that will tackle stormwater and flooding issues on Bayview Avenue in the southern portion of the borough. The project will center in one of the well-known trouble spots for flooding – the area between 11th and 14th avenues.

The first phase of the plan, which will begin soon once contracts are awarded, will include the installation of new stormwater pipes in the southern portion of Bayview Avenue. Those pipes will be pre-fit for the future installation of an electric pump system that will actively pump water into Barnegat Bay rather than have it backwash onto the streets. The plan is to install the pipes before the roadway is paved by Ocean County in the coming months so the street does not have to be reopened.

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“What’s getting installed definitely is the piping, because it’s planning ahead for the day that the pump will be installed,” said Mayor John Peterson. “The pipes hooking into the pump station will already be in place when that phase is ready to go.”

The project, contracts for which have not yet been awarded, will include new storm drains.

“The new storm drains would be for potentially pumping the water into the bay as opposed to having it gravity-fed into the bay,” explained Councilman Marty Wilk. “There would be a micro-pump installed somewhere in the proximity of 14th Avenue, and the time to put these pipes in is before the road is paved.”

Peterson said the road paving project would commence “well before the summer season” and be ready for the increase in traffic.

Seaside Park will also vie for a state grant that officials plan to use for the purchase of a vacuum truck capable of cleaning storm sewers and lines. The truck would be owned by the borough and available for use whenever necessary. The truck could also be used in a dual-purpose role as a street sweeper with appropriate attachments. Seaside Park was designated by the state as a municipality in need of assistance with flood control, thus making funds available should be the grant application be accepted. The designations, however, are prone to change every year.

“We have to act on the possibility of getting this right away because this [program] ends in July,” said Wilk.

Seaside Park will seek as much as $2 million in grant funding for anti-flooding equipment, the maximum allotted by Trenton.