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Our economy is highly dependent on the tourism
opportunities created by our unique 127-mile
shoreline. The quality of our beaches and swimming
waters is critical to the health and safety, as well
as the enjoyment of the people that reside in our
shore communities and vacationers that flock to our
shore towns each summer. As a former Commissioner of
NJDEP, and presently President, New Jersey Shore
Partnership, I have closely followed the significant
progress that has been made to replenish and restore
our beaches to protect people, property and the
environment. This article focuses on dramatic
improvements in the water quality conditions of the
recreational waters of the New Jersey Shore.
During the past several years we’ve all noticed the
dramatic improvement in the water quality conditions
at our bathing beaches along the New Jersey Shore.
Not only have the bacteria levels been extremely low,
but also the color and clarity of the ocean waters
along the beaches have improved, in fact, to such an
extent, that now we can actually see our feet when
standing in the surf. This “experience” was not
possible even a decade ago!
Obviously, it has taken a sustained, three-decade
commitment by the environmental and public health
regulatory agencies---U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection and the N.J. Department of Health, along
with the expenditure of more than a billion dollars
for upgrading the infrastructure system needed to
properly treat and manage the sewage generated by each
and every one of us, to get where we are today.
Public interest groups and citizens also deserve
credit for keeping the pressure on government to
change the old ways of using the ocean as our
receptacle for managing our wastes.
Prior to the 1970’s, minimum technology had been
directed to the waste end of the product cycle.
Scientists had confined themselves to finding a
“hiding place” for spent wastes and materials. For
those industries and municipalities hard pressed by
increasingly more stringent requirements contained in
new air and water pollution statutes of the 1970’s,
coupled with the lack of suitable facilities on land
for the management and disposal of the increased
volumes of wastes generated, the ocean offered the
ultimate “sink” for even the most environmentally
persistent municipal and industrial wastes.
Certainly, the obvious size and assumed mixing
properties of the ocean led many to believe that here
lay the supreme “dilution basin”. Even our historic
record keeping---prior to the 1970’s---reflected more
national concern to prevent navigation hazards than to
safeguard the ocean ecosystem and its resources. In
short, we knew and cared very little about what was
being discharged or dumped into the ocean. In fact,
I’m confident that few in our State ever knew or
realized that 80% of all ocean dumping of wastes
via vessel that occurred in the continental
United States, took place off our coast at six
discrete dump sites
(see Figure 1). These sites are located within an
area known as the New York “Bight”, which extends in a
line drawn from the tip of
Cape May
to
Montauk Point,
and extending seaward approximately 190 nautical miles
to the edge of the continental shelf.
The dumping of sewage sludge, which is the
“solid” component of waste remaining after your sewage
is treated, began at the 12-mile site in the
1920’s, while the dumping of industrial waste at this
site started in the late 1950’s. Also, in this
general area, although it’s hard to believe even based
on what was understood in earlier periods,
New York City
dumped its garbage into the “Bight”. The wash up of
garbage on the beaches in
New York and New Jersey finally moved the courts in
1938 to end this practice.
The Dredge Spoils site, which is located approximately
six miles off our coastline, has been used since the
turn-of the century for the disposal of sediments that
are dredged from the navigation channels in the
waterways in the metropolitan NY-NJ area. Dredge
spoils made up half the volume of barged wastes dumped
in the Bight and because this material contains
contaminants such as heavy metals and organic toxics,
the pollution load from this dumping source has been
significant. The Cellar Dirt site, which received a
million/tons per year of non-floating rock and soil
from excavations and demolition of buildings,
including brick and mortar debris, began accepting
wastes in the mid 1960’s.
As the name implies, the “Wreck Site” was used to
scuttle old wooden sailing ships and barges; and the
Acid Waste site primarily received acid-type
wastes---beginning in the 1950’s--- associated with
National Lead’s manufacturing operations in
Sayreville, NJ. The “106-mile site”, which never has
had a reported impact on the water quality conditions
in or near the beaches began operations in the early
1960’s and was designated for chemical wastes, such as
pesticides, and other chemical that could not, at that
time, be safely handled on land.
Time of Change---1970’s and Beyond
Heightened awareness and environmental concern in the
New York Bight evolved following the passage of the
Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act in
1972, and a number of environmental incidents that
occurred along our coastline in the 1970’s. These
incidents included, for example, a massive, area-wide
fish kill, and the appearance of red and green tides,
caused by algae, along the shore from Sandy Hook and
as far south as Atlantic City. The Long Island
beaches were inundated with the wash-up of
“floatables”, including tar and artifacts of life, as
well as accusations that sludge from the 12-mile site
had broken loose and was heading toward
Jones
Beach.
In the 1980’s
New Jersey’s
beaches experienced the wash-up of medical wastes and
other “floatables” associated with marine transfer
operations at New York City’s
Freshkills Landfill in
Staten Island. Storm water overflows from
metropolitan New York and New Jersey also contributed
to this wash-up problem.
The scorecard on why the water quality along our
shoreline has so dramatically improved is associated
with the following permanent changes that were
implemented:
…. The overboard disposal of plastics and marine
debris from commercial vessels passing our coastline
ceased in the late 1980’s when the United States
became signatory to the International Convention for
the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
…. Over 200
New York
and
New Jersey
communities have terminated ocean disposal of sewage
sludge, with the last barge going to sea in June 1992.
…. Over 150 industrial sources, which previously
dumped wastes at the 12-mile, 106-mile and Acid Waste
sites, have terminated this practice.
…. Over a billion dollars has been spent to eliminate
or upgrade the wastewater treatment plants that were
previously discharging treated sewage into the ocean,
some through outfalls that only extended 200 yards
from the beach (Belmar and Spring Lake for example).
Presently sewage is treated in highly efficient
regional facilities, such as the Ocean County and Bay
Shore systems, which all have outfalls extending
thousands of feet from the shoreline.
…. Stringent testing of dredge spoils for chemical
constituents has severely limited the
quantity and types of dredge material that is
permitted to be ocean dumped at the designated site.
…. The 12-mile sludge site, acid site, wreck site and
cellar dirt site are no longer available for any type
of disposal.
…. New York City’s Freshkills Landfill, a major source
of the “floatables” and hospital-type wastes that
washed ashore in the mid-1980’s ceased operations in
2001.
Conclusion
Teddy Roosevelt said it well: “Nine-tenths of wisdom
is being wise in time.” Because we now enjoy better
conditions along our 127-miles of shoreline, now is
not the time to relax. We have seen that the
cooperative efforts of government, business and
dedicated individuals have brought about dramatic
changes in our water quality and beaches. We must all
continue those efforts to ensure that our coastline
remains beautiful, productive and enjoyed by our
residents and visitors alike.
Remember, the ocean is where the oxygen we breathe is
produced and where our fresh water is derived. We are
a part of the ocean, just as the ocean is a part of
us, and we must continue our vigilance. |
