Vol. 5 No. 1 Summer 1997
A Newsletter About New Jersey's Water Quality Programs

On February 5, 1997, Commissioner Robert C. Shinn, Jr. signed the adoption document for the New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) rules proposed last year by the DEP. As reported in past issues of the New Jersey Discharger, the rules provide the technical and administrative mechanisms for implementing comprehensive watershed permitting and management. In the past, the Division of Water Quality generally issued permits on a site-specific basis, considering a single project or permit at a time. Under the new rule, the emphasis will expand from a site-specific approach to a watershed-based approach, providing a means to evaluate all impacts to a watershed in a coordinated manner.

The rule was published on May 5, 1997, in the New Jersey Register, which is available from the West Publishing Company at (800) 808-WEST. Electronic versions of the rule may also be obtained by accessing the division's electronic bulletin board at (609) 292-2006 or its web site at http://www.state.nj.us/dep.