Under the Federal Clean Water Act Section 303 (d), each state is required to list impaired waterbodies. New Jersey uses chemical and biological stream monitoring to determine these impaired waters. Waterbodies can not be removed from the 303 (d) list until the water quality standards are met. For each listed waterbody, the state is required to develop a TMDL for each pollutant.
The proceeding document contains complete references to articles including webpage addresses. These listings are posted to promote continued research into establishing meaningful TMDLs. The proceeding document contains complete references to articles including webpage addresses. These listings are posted to promote continued research into establishing meaningful TMDLs.
The TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) is a regulatory tool used to determine the amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards. The Clean Water Act requires:
- States to set priorities for TMDL development
- States to develop a TMDL for each pollutant for each listed waterbody
- EPA to approve or disapprove state's submissions, and if disapproved, to act in lieu of state.
Stormwater Pollution
Stormwater pollution is a form of nonpoint pollution that comes from everyday activities such as over fertilizing lawns, littering, changing motor oil and overuse of pesticides. This is not a new issue. Sources include pet and wildlife waste, sewer lines connected to storm drains, leaking septic tanks, and dumpster leachate. Even wildlife waste causes bacteria levels to rise significantly from streams and wetlands during and after rainfall.
Residents can assist in the effort to reduce stormwater loading by remembering that what they do at home can affect the water. Oil, pet waste or grass clippings that enter storm drains eventually end up in the estuary or ocean without being treated. One method of improving local stormwater pollution is to construct a Rain Garden to reduce the volume of stormwater discharged from your property. This will reduce the size of the area impacted stormwater plumes and reduce the total amount of bacteria discharged from outfalls into receiving water bodies. A Rain Garden is a landscaped, shallow depression that allows rainwater and snowmelt to be collected and seep naturally into the ground.
RBA and the 303D Sub-List II A :
About two thirds of the Department of Environmental Protection's 303D list of stream sampling sites in Monmouth County with impaired water quality were determined by performing a rapid bioassessment (RBA) of benthic dwelling macroinvertebrates. The majority of the remaining 303D sites were impaired by fecal coliform bacteria or phosphorous. These sites require the establishment of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) that will limit future discharges to these streams. Nine percent of all the sampling sites in Watershed Area 12 are rated non-impaired.
The impaired sites are not uniquely polluted looking. They are located in a variety of residential, commercial and agricultural areas, regardless of whether they have septic systems or sewers, and are located at various distances from Superfund sites, leaking underground storage tanks, sewer plants and other discharges associated with stream pollution. In comparison, the few non-impaired sites have noticeably less silt in the streambed and/or more intact vegetative buffers.
Additional Resources for Water Quality Management: