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A Birthday Worth Celebrating

For Immediate Release

October 17, 2002

(TRENTON, N.J.)   - A series of water monitoring demonstrations will be held on Friday, October 18, at the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park in Ewing Township, N.J., to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the federal Clean Water Act and to celebrate National Water Monitoring Day.

The public is invited to attend.

11:45 a.m.: Opening remarks by invited guests, including Carol R. Collier, executive director of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC); Gary Sondermeyer, chief of staff, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP); and Richard H. Kropp, district chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS's) New Jersey office.

Noon to 2:30 p.m.: Water sampling will be conducted by representatives from the three agencies.

Location: The monitoring will take place along both the Delaware and Raritan Canal and the Delaware River at the Scudders Falls area of the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park. The site off Route 175 is accessible by a wooden plank bridge spanning the canal. It is located in Ewing Township, N.J., about 100 yards south of the spot where Route 175 veers off to the right from Route 29 South -- at the approach to the I-95 Trenton/Lambertville Interchange. A site location map can be accessed on the DRBC web site.

Students from Perth Amboy, N.J., who have been actively involved with environmental issues, are expected to be on hand to both observe and take part in measuring the quality of the water.

Water monitoring equipment will be on display and the public and news media will have a chance to meet with the invited guests, the students, and the technical personnel who are conducting the monitoring activities.

The Clean Water Act, enacted on October 18, 1972, set the goal of restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters. In the three decades since its passage, pollution abatement programs have yielded measurable improvements in water quality.

Lakes and streams that once were devoid of fish and other aquatic life now support numerous and varied aquatic populations. Point source discharges from municipal and industrial waste water treatment plants are being monitored and controlled.

However, the act has not resolved all of the nation's water pollution problems. Non-point source pollutants contained in storm water runoff from urban and rural landscapes alike are imposing a significantly increasing threat to the nation's waters.

A lot has been accomplished; a lot more needs to be done.

National Water Monitoring Day, to be conducted annually, is being coordinated by America's Clean Water Foundation and its many partners to bring together citizens from around the country to sample their rivers and streams. A major goal of the program is to create an awareness of how important it is to protect our waterways, a resource on which our lives depend.

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Link to National Water Monitoring Day on DRBC's Ed. Web Education Page