Experts decry local water quality

Friday, April 11, 2003

TRENTON -- Water quality along the entire stretch of the Delaware River is declining, according to environmentalists.

Water quality in streams and rivers in New Jersey has eroded by as much as 35 percent over the past decade due largely to sprawl, according to a report released Wednesday.

In the report, dubbed Rivers in Danger, the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group links the degradation in water quality to such pressures as paved surfaces, chemical run off and lack of barriers along waterways.

"We intuitively know building along rivers is going to have an impact," said Douglas O'Malley, clean water advocate for NJPIRG. "Clearly the picture here is that our rivers are under threat."

Although the Delaware has been granted "Wild and Scenic" status by Congress, Jeff Tittel of the New Jersey Sierra Club said the designation, while a good start, does not go far enough.

"Wild and Scenic means it prevents means it prevents dams and new federal projects. It's also used to promote tourism," said Tittel, director of the national environmental group's New Jersey chapter."But it really has no water quality component."

According to O'Malley and others, areas along the Delaware River have experienced some of the highest growth levels in the state.

No where has development, and the accompanying pollution, been more rampant than in the western part of the state, according to the report. The result, the document said, is a threat to not only streams flowing past homes, but also to the people living inside of them.

Their argument: As development occurs, it degrades not only streams and rivers, but the reservoirs and aquifers they flow into, environmentalists said. The main effect is on surface water supplies, which provide drinking stocks for an estimated 4 million New Jerseyans.

In Washington Township, 2,071 acres were developed between 1986 and 1995, according to a Rutgers University study. The township ranked fourth highest for development in the state during that period with 1,399 permits issued.

Oldmans Creek, which runs between Salem and Gloucester counties, is among the imperiled springs, with assaults coming from suburban run off, fertilizers and septic systems, according to the NJPIRG report.

Tittel said many of the streams are inching closer to irreparable damage.

One lawmaker agreed, calling for action.

"If we want pure water quality we have to ensure that it works through good policies not just good sentiments," said Sen. Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon/Warren, who called for Gov. James E. McGreevey to honor a pledge to increase water protection.

Copyright 2003 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.