Vol. 4 No. 4 Spring 1997
A Newsletter About New Jersey's Water Quality Programs

Governors Approve New York/New Jersey Harbor Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan by Dr. Mary Downes Gastrich, Office of Environmental Planning

The Governors of New York and New Jersey recently approved the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) for the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary and New York Bight. The plan, which will protect the water quality, living resources, and habitat of the harbor and bight area, was developed through a partnership comprising various government agencies and a diverse coalition of hundreds of citizen volunteers.

The NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program (HEP) is one of three National Estuary Programs administered in New Jersey (Barnegat Bay and Delaware Estuary are the other two). These programs are characterized by consensus-building partnerships among the private and public sectors. For example, eleven major sewerage authorities discharging to the harbor formed the New Jersey Harbor Discharger Group--a team conducting studies and working cooperatively with other agencies in the region to support the implementation of specific actions in the plan.

The approved CCMP contains over 300 actions to protect habitat and living resources and reduce pollution to the estuary, with commitments to implement approximately 75 percent of the actions. Full implementation, however, will require significant resources including those actions associated with combined sewer overflow and stormwater discharge abatement--two major sources of pollution to the harbor. While both states are implementing CSO programs, both New York City and the New Jersey Harbor Discharge Group are working with HEP to develop and implement a long term CSO abatement regional program.

Although the focus of the CCMP is on the harbor and bight, especially the harbor core area, the drainage basin or watershed of the Estuary encompasses about 16,300 square miles, including much of eastern New York, northern New Jersey, and small parts of western Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The Harbor core area in New Jersey includes many important tributaries and waters including the Hudson, Passaic, Hackensack, Rahway, Raritan, Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers, the Arthur Kill and the Newark Bay and Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays.

Habitat is a central focus of the plan because the quality of our lives is directly related to the health of habitats and living resources around us. The vision of the HEP is to establish and maintain a healthy and productive Harbor/Bight ecosystem with full beneficial uses. The actions focus on:

• protecting, restoring and enhancing habitat
• developing management strategies:
  - to prevent pollution,
  - to reduce contaminants at the source,
  - to favor non-structural solutions and use of natural systems, and
  - to integrate plans across land, water and air;
  
• form public/private partnerships in the region and coordinate with other geographic plans to protect and restore the environment.

To reduce and eliminate toxic contaminants at the source, the plan includes a phased approach in which effluent limits and additional requirements are gradually incorporated into permits.

Outreach
Both New Jersey and New York currently provide water quality advisory information to the public through fishing licenses, press releases, and other channels. New Jersey is presently conducting pilot projects to identify the most effective means for communicating fishing advisories and bans to urban anglers as well as the health risks associated with exposure to contaminants found in fish and shellfish in Newark and Raritan Bays, and the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers.

Dredge Material Management
The plan also addresses the management of dredged material. However, since the finalization of the CCMP in March 1996, there have been a number of significant developments at the federal and state levels related to dredged material management that need to be included in the plan. For example, the EPA announced the closure of the Mud Dump Site and designated the Historic Area Remediation Site which encompasses an area in and around the site where historic dumping has occurred. In addition, the governors of New York and New Jersey announced the joint Dredging Plan for the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Full implementation of the CCMP will require the continued funding of base programs at current levels. New sources of funding may be considered for implementing some actions, including the Port of New Jersey revitalization bond funds, Port Authority funds, and EPA funds. In addition, the HEP needs help from non-profit organizations interested in implementing specific actions and/or contributing expertise to the effort. If you would like more information or are interested in participating, please contact Dr. Mary Downes Gastrich of the Office of Environmental Planning at (609) 292-1895.