To the Editor:

In just the second month of 2014, dirty water reports are an all too common occurrence, with major chemical and coal ash spills into drinking water sources in West Virginia and North Carolina, respectively. Here, in New Jersey, the majority of our waterways violate clean water standards for drinking, swimming, and fishing on a regular basis.

Water pollution in central Jersey includes bacteria and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Stormwater, rain and snow melt, wash these pollutants from the land and carry them to our waterways. By allowing new developments to proceed without proper regulations, water pollution in New Jersey will worsen.

That’s why the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, in partnership with seven other environmental groups, filed a petition this week requesting that the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) strengthen the requirements to control pollution and support cleaner drinking, swimming, and fishing waters.

The Watershed Association and other groups argue that New Jersey’s storm water rules are not meeting the requirements of the Federal Clean Water Act and should therefore be improved to protect and restore our waterways. New Jersey’s current storm water permits, set to expire on February 28, 2014, have proven ineffective in restoring clean water. Since New Jersey last updated these permits, states and cities around the country have used green infrastructure, such as the rain gardens which we are constructing to manage stormwater from our new environmental center, to reduce polluted runoff. New Jersey residents deserve clean water, and in filing this petition, the Watershed Association is working hard to protect and restore that water.

Jennifer M. Coffey,

Policy Director,

Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association