Maersk Funds Project to “Rescue” the Great Swamp’s Most Polluted Stream

Maersk Inc. and the Great Swamp Watershed Association today announced a partnership to continue work aimed at improving the water quality of local streams. 

Maersk Inc., headquartered in the Giralda Farms office campus in Madison, NJ, provided a generous grant to the Watershed Association to sponsor the continuation of the “Adopt-A-Stream” Restoration Program on Loantaka Brook. The funds provided will allow the Watershed Association to continue vital stream monitoring activities, including the chemical analyses of water samples, and to develop a plan for water quality improvements and restoration work.

The “Adopt-a-Stream” program was conceived in 2003 by the Watershed Association’s Corporate Council, of which Maersk is a member. Long-term, the program aims to reduce pollution levels in all five streams in the watershed, to develop and implement solutions, and to continually monitor them. 

The program’s first target is Loantaka Brook, the most polluted of the five major streams in the Great Swamp Watershed. It traverses portions of Morristown, Morris Township, Harding Township, Chatham Township and Madison, before exiting the Great Swamp and flowing into the Passaic River. 

“While Loantaka Brook has been the most degraded by pollution, all of the streams feeding the Great Swamp—one of New Jersey’s few remaining freshwater wetlands, and a source of drinking water for nearly 1.2 million people in the region—are threatened,” said Kelley Curran the Watershed Association’s Project Director. 

“Thanks to the generous support received from Maersk and our other Corporate Council partners last year, the Watershed Association was able to make significant progress on our Restoration Program on Loantaka Brook. We have already identified several non-point source pollution issues and potential ways to address immediate problems,” said Ruth Kerkeslager, Development Director of the Watershed Association.

“The current grant will allow the Watershed Association to continue the necessary water quality monitoring and to transition into the next phase of the program, including the development of a plan for water quality improvements and ecological restoration and implementation of remediation measures.

“Maersk’s support of this project is an exemplary model of how corporate neighbors can impact a community problem’ she said. 

Anyone interested in supporting the Adopt-a-Stream project may call Ruth Kerkeslager at 973-538-3500.

Established in 1943, Maersk Inc. is the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group’s general agent in North America for Maersk Sealand, one of the largest liner shipping companies in the world, serving customers all over the globe. Headquartered in Madison, NJ, the company continues to grow and diversify with approximately 100 agency or container-related offices in North America with a staff of over 3,000 serving the United States and Canada. For more information about Maersk Inc., visit maersksealand.com.

Founded in 1981, the Great Swamp Watershed Association, headquartered in Harding Township, NJ, is committed to improving community awareness of environmental issues, protecting the safety of the water we drink, and encouraging the protection and preservation of the land. Celebrating more than 20 years of service as a non-profit organization, the Association relies on membership and contributions in its advocacy for the ecological health of the 55-square –mile watershed. For information on membership and upcoming events, visit the website at www.greatswamp.org.

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Photo Caption:  Russ Bruner, President & CEO, Maersk Inc. presents check 
to Julia Somers, Executive Director, Great Swamp Watershed Association.