The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission’s Newark Bay Treatment Plant, located at 600 Wilson Avenue in Newark’s Ironbound district, is one of the largest and oldest regional sewerage commissions in the United States. The 140-acre facility processes an annual average of 226 million gallons of wastewater daily — with a design capacity of 330 MGD and wet weather capacity of 400 MGD — serving more than 1.6 million residents across 48 municipalities in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Union, and Passaic Counties. The plant contains more than eight miles of access roads, more than one mile of 15-foot-wide utility tunnels, and thousands of instruments, valves, and pumps. Its reinforced concrete tanks, clarifiers, digesters, and wet well structures operate in a continuous, high-humidity, hydrogen sulfide-generating environment that aggressively degrades both concrete and steel protective coatings.

PSEG, headquartered in Newark and the state’s largest investor-owned utility serving 1.8 million gas customers and 2.2 million electric customers, maintains multiple transmission substations and distribution infrastructure throughout the city. PSE&G’s ongoing 69kV statewide reliability initiative is actively upgrading substation infrastructure across Newark — including the Central Avenue and Port Street substations — requiring industrial-grade coatings for structural steel, equipment housings, and distribution infrastructure. Newark’s Department of Water and Sewer Utilities operates the reservoirs, pumping stations, and distribution mains that supply the city and surrounding communities, all of which require periodic inspection and protective coating maintenance.

Harrison’s active industrial presence centers on J. Supor and Son’s Harrison Industrial Park, a multi-acre heavy industrial facility with rail and water access to the Passaic River, 100-ton overhead crane capacity, and more than one million square feet of combined indoor and outdoor industrial space. This type of facility — handling large steel fabrications, heavy equipment, and industrial components — generates ongoing sandblasting, surface preparation, and protective coating requirements for both the equipment processed at the site and the facility’s own structural steel and containment infrastructure.

Along the Passaic River waterfront, Harrison’s redevelopment has exposed legacy industrial soil contamination and required significant environmental remediation work on former manufacturing sites — including the former GEO Specialty Chemicals plant. Public infrastructure along the waterfront, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Passaic River Tidal Flood Control Project’s floodwall and levee system, represents a significant ongoing coating maintenance requirement for steel and concrete flood control structures exposed to tidal saltwater.

PSEG is an existing client of NJ Reliable Coatings. We understand the safety protocols, contractor prequalification requirements, and coating specifications that utility operators require — including work within energized substations, coordination with PSEG’s project management teams, and the documentation standards required for regulated utility maintenance contracts.

Utility infrastructure coating in the Newark market includes substation structural steel and equipment housings, transmission and distribution pole and tower bases, gas main exterior protective coatings, and valve vault interior coatings. PSE&G’s ongoing 69kV reliability upgrades across Newark are generating active substation construction and coating work as new infrastructure is installed and existing structures are rehabilitated. We apply coating systems from Carboline, Sherwin-Williams, and PPG that meet utility industry specifications for corrosion protection in urban environments.

• Substation structural steel coating and surface preparation for PSE&G Newark facilities
• Transmission and distribution infrastructure coating for pole bases, equipment housings, and conduit
• Gas main exterior corrosion protection coatings for Newark distribution system assets
• Valve vault interior epoxy lining for NJAW and PSEG underground infrastructure
• NACE CIP Level 3 QA/QC inspection included on every utility project

Both Newark and Harrison present challenging surface preparation environments: Newark’s wastewater and utility assets require specification-grade blasting on concrete and steel substrates in active facility environments, while Harrison’s industrial waterfront and legacy structures require aggressive blasting on heavily corroded steel exposed to tidal Passaic River conditions.

NJ Reliable Coatings performs abrasive blasting to SSPC SP-5 (White Metal), SP-10 (Near-White Metal), and SP-6 (Commercial Blast) at active facilities throughout both cities. For Harrison waterfront and flood control structures, we apply appropriate containment and abrasive recovery systems for work in or adjacent to the Passaic River. For Newark’s confined wastewater plant environments, our crews are trained for confined space entry and continuous atmospheric monitoring required in structures where H2S and other gases are present.

• SSPC SP-5, SP-10, and SP-6 field blasting for wastewater, utility, and industrial substrates
• Confined space entry sandblasting in active wastewater treatment structures with H2S monitoring
• Harrison waterfront blasting with Passaic River containment and abrasive recovery
• Lead paint identification and abatement on Newark and Harrison legacy industrial structures
• Vacuum-assisted blasting for enclosed facility environments where dust control is critical