DESCRIPTION: The 935-square-mile area covered by the Passaic River Flood Warning System contains 132 communities within the States of New Jersey’s and New York’s counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Somerset, Union, and Rockland. This area contains a population of approximately 2.5 million people and over 20,000 homes and businesses. The Passaic River Flood Warning System consists of fifty-six (56) stream level gages and precipitation gages.
The gages transmit observational data via individual Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) to the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service’s (NESDIS) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system. The DCPs at the stations transmit near real-time stage, discharge, and/or precipitation data from these sites hourly via the GOES satellite. Data are analyzed, quality-assured and approved for publication to the USGS Water Data for the Nation at https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/current/. Water Data for the Nation displays data in a discoverable, accessible, and usable format for everyone. A USGS Water Data for the Nation Newsletter is a quarterly email that provides updates about public water data delivery and modernization from USGS Water Data for the Nation. Subscribe to this newsletter at https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/usgs-water-data-nation-newsletter. Data are also available on the New Jersey Water Science Center’s website at http://nj.usgs.gov.
The USGS National Water Dashboard (NWD) is an accessible, real-time tool that can help minimize the loss of life and property by providing advance flood warning to communities. Accessible via desktop, smartphone, or mobile device, the NWD offers an interactive map with real-time water, weather and National Weather Service flood forecast information. The tool can be used by forecasters and local emergency managers as they issue flood and evacuation warnings, verify safe evacuation routes and coordinate emergency response efforts. During a drought, the tool can help state resource managers identify areas where water supplies are at risk. For more information, visit the NWD at https://dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov/app/nwd/?aoi=state-nj.
In addition, the real-time data can be obtained from the US Geological Survey’s WaterAlert System, which is a subscription notification service that sends subscribers real-time data via email or text: http://water.usgs.gov/wateralert. Daily and hourly updates are sent when the current conditions at the gage meet or surpass a threshold of concern that is set by the user. This system will notify users when the stage, discharge, or water-quality parameter at a USGS gage of interest reaches or exceeds a preset threshold.
Web cameras are being installed at streamgages across New Jersey as part of standard equipment upgrades, where feasible. The images can be seen on our USGS Hydrologic Imagery Visualization and Information System (HIVIS) Dashboard at https://apps.usgs.gov/hivis/?state=NJ in addition to on the Water Data for the Nation (WDFN) individual site Monitoring Location pages.
AUTHORIZATION: Section 101(a)(18) of the Water Resources Development Act of 1990 (PL 101-640), as amended by Section 102(p)(1) Water Resources Development Act of 1992 (PL 102-580).
STATUS: Normal operations and maintenance efforts continue within a partnership between the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Geological Survey.
CONTACT:
Sean O’Donnell, P.E.
Emergency Manager/ Chief, Readiness Unit
P: (917) 790-8500
Email: Sean.B.Odonnell@usace.army.mil
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
26 Federal Plaza
New York, New York 10278
DISTRICTS: NJ-5, NJ-7, NJ-8, NJ-9, NJ-10, NJ-11