What's New
Runoff
pollution from development is making its way down to the Shore by way
of rivers and streams throughout the state. Environment New Jersey is working with the
Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic to highlight several of the rivers
most in need of increased protection from development. We will present
our findings to New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection and
ask them to do the right thing to protect our state's waters.
We've filed a legal petition with the State to formally protect the Toms River (Ocean and Monmouth Counties). The Toms River provides a great example of a pristine and important waterway at risk from runaway development – it flows through the New Jersey Pinelands, it is the largest tributary to Barnegat Bay, and it boasts great water quality. However, its place in the middle of a high-growth part of the state means that its waters are threatened as development moves closer and closer to its banks. By filing the petition, we’ve laid out the scientific case for the State to permanently protect this important waterway.
Click here to read about a panel of scientists and policy experts we brought together to highlight the threats facing the Toms River and other coastal waterways, as well as the steps New Jersey can take to keep them pristine.
How You Can Help
Over the last decade, our coastal waters have become more degraded by
run-off pollution from overdevelopment along the Shore and coastal
waters. Beach closings have spiked and our coastal waterways are more
polluted.
Urge DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson to give more protection to the waterways that flow into New Jersey’s coastal waters.
Environment New Jersey is creating an online album of Shore photos taken by supporters around the state. Click here to view our online photo album. You can also help by sending us your photos of the shore.
Brief Summary
Coastal Waterways in Decline
In
recent years, the quality of the water in our ocean and bays has taken
a turn for the worse. According the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), only 15 percent of our coastal waters are in “good” shape.
Unhealthy
coastal waters mean fewer days at the beach. In recent years, the
number of beach closings has spiked. In 2004, there were nearly six
times as many ocean beach closings as there were in 1996.
The
waters along the Jersey Shore are being inundated with pollutants and
contaminants as a result of unchecked development along rivers
upstream. But the pollution flooding into our ocean and bays are making
it less and less safe for us to enjoy the water at our favorite summer
vacation spot.
Developers to Blame
When
developers build along the banks of the waterways that feed our oceans
and bays, they are endangering the Shore. Without a buffer of
undeveloped land around the banks of Shore-bound waterways, rivers and
streams become conduits for runoff pollution. Contaminants are swept
all the way to the Shore – degrading the quality of the water where we
swim, surf and fish.
It
doesn’t help that some of the fastest development in the state is
occurring in coastal counties. Twenty-eight percent of the state’s
growth in urban land between 1995 and 2000 occurred in only four
counties: Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, and Cape May.
Keeping our Coastal Waters Safe
In
order to protect New Jersey’s Shore, the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection should proceed with a comprehensive plan to
make sure that the waterways that feed the ocean and bays are
off-limits to developers.
To
accomplish this, New Jersey’s Shore-bound waterways should be
designated with Category One protection. Category One is one of the
highest levels of protection afforded under a part of the Clean Water
Act called “anti-degradation.” Anti-degradation ensures that the water
quality will not be measurably degraded or polluted.
This
will ensure the creation of buffer zones around pristine waterways,
stop the expansion of new or existing sewer lines and restrict
industrial pollution. More information.
All
Shore-bound waterways should be protected, but the following waterways need protection right now:
• Great Egg Harbor River
• Toms River
• Maurice River
• Oldmans Creek
• Rancocas Creek
• Cohansey River
• Navesink River.
• Shrewsbury River
• Alloways Creek
• Salem River
• Mannington River
• Cedar Creek
• Forked River
• Mill Creek
