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Executive Summary
As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this report.
Many of New Jersey’s most
pristine waterways face the risk of contamination from rapidly expanding development.
These waterways provide clean drinking water for millions of New Jersey citizens,
replenish the state’s groundwater supplies, provide ecologically critical habitat
for threatened and endangered species, and regionally important recreational
opportunities.
New Jersey is using up its land faster than any other state in the country.
The Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis at Rutgers predicted the
state would run out of available land within 30 to 50 years if development rates
seen in the last two decades continue. These rapid changes are having a strong
negative impact on water quality, especially in the most pristine parts of the
state. During the 1990s, water quality declined in a third of the state’s waterways—in
watersheds at the fringes of major development activity.
This report explores the link between development and water quality degradation
in the state and highlights a set of valuable but vulnerable rivers that need
protection.
Urban land use is a primary
factor in wa-ter quality degradation
An analysis of land use
and water quality data collected by the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection indicates that poor water quality is associated with increasingly
urban land use. Replacing as little as 5 percent of the land in a watershed
with paved surfaces results in observable water quality decline.
Development harms water
quality by increasing levels of runoff and treated sewage discharge
• Runoff from paved or disturbed land delivers fertilizers, sediment, oil, grit,
and other pollutants to water bodies.
• Treated sewage from commercial
and residential developments contaminates waterways with nutrients and other
chemical pollutants.
• Runoff and wastewater
effluent can reduce groundwater recharge and contaminate underground aquifers.
Water quality declined
in 35% of water-sheds during the 1990s
Water quality declined in
14 major river systems measured by the NJDEP in the early and late 1990s. The
rivers that showed a decline were located in the Northwest, Central, and Atlantic
coast areas of the state—areas that are experiencing rapid development. They
include:
• The Wallkill, Pequest,
and Musconetcong Rivers in Northwest New Jersey.
• Lockatong Creek, Lawrence
Brook, and the Neshanic and Millstone Rivers in Cen-tral New Jersey.
• The Navesink, Shark, Manasquan,
Metedeconk, and Toms Rivers along the Atlantic Coast.
The case of Lawrence Brook
and the Millstone River illustrates the connection between development and declining
water quality. The land surrounding these rivers includes six of the top 20
municipalities with the most new development between 1986 and 1995, including
West Windsor Township (Mercer County), Franklin Township (Somerset County),
Manalapan Township, Millstone Township (Monmouth County), South Brunswick Township,
and Monroe Township (Middlesex County). During this period, increasing urban
area claimed 6.6 percent of the Lawrence Brook watershed and 7.5 percent of
the Millstone River watershed, yielding a 12 percent water quality decline in
both rivers in the 1990s.
Continued development
in pristine watersheds threatens water quality across the state.
Building permit data shows
that development activity continues in Central New Jersey and southward along
the Jersey Shore. Six municipalities each issued more than 2,000 building permits
for residential homes between 1996 and 2001, including Dover Township, Manchester
Township, Jackson Township (Ocean County), Monroe Township (Gloucester County),
South Brunswick Township (Middlesex County), and Marlboro Township (Monmouth
County). In addition, widened roads are increasing development pressure in areas
like the New Jersey Highlands. Rivers in these areas are at risk for further
water quality declines.
POLICY FINDINGS
Preserving pristine waterways
requires protecting forests and wetlands, maintaining buffer corridors, minimizing
impervious surface additions, and preventing new or expanded sewage discharges
in vulnerable areas. Each of these steps can promote healthy streams and good
drinking water quality.
Governor James McGreevey’s
administration has made protecting drinking water supplies and ecologically
significant waterways a priority. There are many steps which could and should
be taken to address development pressures and their water quality impacts. One
notable step has been the use of the anti-degradation provisions of the Clean
Water Act to protect waterways from additional sewage discharge, runoff pollution,
and shrinking buffer zones. Under this part of the Clean Water Act, special
waterways (called Category One or C1) are protected from any activity that results
in a measurable decline in water quality.
The administration can help ensure that New Jersey’s pristine waterways remain
protected for future generations by improving the scope and effectiveness of
this program with the following steps:
• Officially finalizing
Category One protection for the 15 waterbodies the administration proposed for
Category One status on Earth Day 2002, and the seven trout streams proposed
for protection in December.
• Extending protection to
an inclusive and comprehensive list of waterways across the state, emphasizing
drinking water sources, habitat for endangered species including coastal areas,
headwater areas with low impervious cover, and tributaries of protected rivers
or reservoirs. A good example of this type of list was announced by the governor
in March 2003 and is currently posted on the DEP website.
• Integrating Category One
protection effectively in regulations for septic systems, groundwater protection,
stream encroachment, coastal management, water allocation, and wetlands management.
For example, the Department of Environmental Protection should officially adopt
the recently proposed stormwater management rules, which include a 300-foot
buffer zone for Category One waters.
• Strengthening and enforcing
existing regulations to ensure no measurable degradation in Category One waterways,
including adequate buffer zones and limits on discharge from sewage plants and
industry.
Vulnerable Rivers
• The Wanaque River, the
Ramapo River, tributaries of the Rockaway and Pequannock Rivers, the Wallkill
River and the Vernon Valley, and the Musconetcong River in northwest New Jersey.
• Holland Brook, the Neshanic
River, and other pristine tributaries of the South Branch of the Raritan River
in Central New Jersey.
• Rancocas Creek, Oldmans
Creek, the Maurice River, and the Cohansey River in the Lower Delaware region.
• The Manasquan River, the
Great Egg Har-bor River, and the Toms River along the Atlantic Coast.
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