How Clean Is Our Water? GSWA Stream Monitoring Programs Keep It In Check
NJ DEP Uses GSWA Data to Amend Standards
Next Sampling Date: August 5th

HARDING TWP, NJ – Staff and volunteers from the Great Swamp Watershed Association will be sampling the waters from Great Brook at six testing sites throughout Harding and Morris Townships on Tuesday, August 5th, as part of their continuing efforts to monitor stream quality in the watershed.

Great Brook is one of five streams in the Great Swamp Watershed and is the second to be targeted by GSWA for a three-year water quality study.

Earlier this year, GSWA submitted to the NJ Department of Environmental Protection a final report from its first comprehensive study, which took place at sampling points along Loantaka Brook in Morris Township between 2005 and 2007. NJ DEP used the data to help reduce by 60 percent the acceptable limit of phosphorus discharged from sewage treatment plants in the watershed. Phosphorus, a naturally occurring nutrient essential to plant and animal life, is a by-product of human and animal waste. Too much fosters excessive algae growth, which depletes the dissolved oxygen supply for fish, is more expensive to clean for drinking water, and diminishes our recreational experiences.

“Water quality is a major national issue, but one where we can have a dramatic impact at a very local level — right in our own backyards,” explains Kelley Curran, GSWA Water Quality Programs Director.

GSWA “Stream Teams” work under the direction of Ms. Curran, and include professional and community volunteers who are trained to conduct visual or chemical assessments. “We welcome anyone who is interested in protecting the environment,” notes Ms. Curran. “And we are lucky enough to have some highly regarded scientists in our community willing to volunteer.”

A Valuable Service to the State

“It’s worth noting that the NJ DEP recognizes and values volunteer programs like ours,” adds Ms. Curran. “With some 18,000 miles of streams in New Jersey, the state realizes it doesn’t have the manpower to conduct such massive screening alone.”

In order to validate its data, GSWA must use a state-approved laboratory to conduct the water analysis.

“We’re often asked why we study only one stream at a time,” adds Sally Rubin, GSWA Executive Director. “Or, why we can’t do more. The answer is money. Laboratory analysis is expensive, but the results should be of interest to everyone. That’s why it’s important for everyone to support local nonprofit and volunteer groups like their local watershed associations.”

GSWA receives funding for its stream monitoring initiatives from corporate donors through its Adopt-A-Stream program. The program seeks to restore and improve the water quality of the five streams flowing into the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and, ultimately, into the Passaic River — a primary source of drinking water for over 1 million people.

The sampling along Great Brook on August 5th will be the third round drawn from the sites this year. Just like the Loantaka Brook project, samples here are studied to determine the water’s content of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). Results obtained in the first two monitoring rounds have shown that in most samples from Great Brook, the New Jersey Surface Water Quality Standards that apply to nitrates and phosphorus are being met. However, the more stringent quality objectives for this stream, established in 2002 by the Ten Towns Great Swamp Watershed Management Committee, are frequently being exceeded. The concentration of TDS also meets the NJ standard of 500 milligrams per liter (mg/l) at all the sampled sites. However, one of the sites, in a more heavily developed part of Morris Township, TDS measured 450 mg/l, which is significantly higher than the other stream segments and uncomfortably close to the NJ standard.

“Being closer to Morristown, this portion of the stream is more vulnerable to contamination by deicing materials deposited on local roads and parking lots,” explains Roger Edwards of Long Hill Township, a GSWA Stream Team volunteer who participates in both visual and chemical monitoring. “Our analysis confirms that road salt, which is made up of sodium and chloride ions, contributes significantly to the TDS concentrations in Great Brook.” Although deicing materials are used only in winter months, their retention in soils and subsequent leaching into shallow groundwater can lead to year-round contamination of streams.

“Our stream monitoring program demonstrates how volunteer and nonprofit groups can raise red flags about potential environmental issues and get the state to come take a closer look. That’s very powerful,” concludes GSWA Executive Director Ms. Rubin.

 

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Founded in 1981, the Great Swamp Watershed Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the water and land of the 36,000-acre watershed region in Morris and Somerset counties. The organization works to maintain the beauty and health of open space, and to monitor and protect five streams: Loantaka Brook, Great Brook, Primrose Brook, Black Brook, and the headwaters of the Passaic River — which feed into the Passaic River and providing drinking water to more than a million people.
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