West Windsor and Plainsboro are particularly affected.
By: David Campbell
Development in the Route 1 corridor has resulted in a significant drop in water quality and supply, with further losses expected in the future, according to recent findings in an ongoing state study.
Fast-developing West Windsor Township and Plainsboro Township have seen losses in watershed recharge of 10 to 25 percent, said study leader Daniel Van Abs of the New Jersey Water Supply Authority.
According to Stephen Decter of West Windsor’s Stormwater Management Committee, a new committee-proposed ordinance could help protect watershed recharge with future development.
"Obviously it’s late in the game," he said. "Many of the decisions made in the past we will have to live with."
But, he said, as West Windsor nears full build-out, this and related efforts can address watershed troubles locally and regionally.
The study is a joint effort by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Water Supply Authority, in cooperation with researchers from environmental, public-utility, corporate and citizen organizations, to evaluate and address changing conditions in central New Jersey’s Raritan River Basin.
The basin is home to 1.2 million residents and covers about 1,100 square miles in Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Somerset and Union counties.
Major waterways in the basin include the north and south branches of the Raritan River and the Millstone River, as well as their many feeder streams.
The final findings of the project’s evaluation phase were presented Aug. 22 and will be used to develop a management plan that will be adopted by the DEP as part of its regulations for granting building permits, Mr. Van Abs said.
"Any permit or funding the department gives will have to be consistent with the management plan, so that’s fairly significant," he said.
In addition, aspects of the management plan will depend on voluntary compliance by municipalities and builders, he said.
"The Raritan Basin is facing significant challenges," Mr. Van Abs said of the new findings. "We have no places with pristine streams. We had some watersheds that lost approximately 25 percent of recharge in a matter of 10 years."
The highest losses in the Princeton area have been along Route 1 in West Windsor and Plainsboro, he said.
But development also is spreading out from major roadways, which also signals increased watershed contamination and recharge loss, according to the study.
Eighty percent of new development before 1986 was within 1 mile of major highways, compared to 59 percent between 1986 and 1995, Mr. Van Abs said.
"We are spreading development all over the landscape and well away from highways," Mr. Van Abs said. "All those rural roads are taking a real hit combined with the increased impervious surface."
In addition, he continued, increased reliance on septic systems and wells in less centrally located residential and office-park developments means more water is being drawn from the ground and then returned with contaminants.
Noelle MacKay of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, which is taking part in the project, said the study findings, while very generalized, are a "great starting point" for municipalities, providing "another layer of information for their decision-making process."
Ms. MacKay said, "I want townships to understand they really need to do their own research. I think that there are problems, but we need to look not only in terms of problems. I think we need to look for positives and protect those positives."
West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said the study findings in his township are "not totally unexpected," and said the draft ordinance coming out of the Stormwater Management Committee will require developers to take them into consideration for future projects.
The ordinance, he said, is aimed at setting criteria for the design of stormwater retention basins and for reducing nonpoint source pollutants such as runoff from impervious surfaces, lawn-care and agricultural pollutants.
Mr. Decter said the committee hopes also to apply for DEP grant money for a regional pilot program for community education and voluntary monitoring of area watersheds.
"Stormwater management has to do with the behavior of individuals as well as what the township can do on a watershed basis with other towns," he said. "It is a very important issue for developing municipalities. Since we are living in the watershed, we will be living with the consequences of decisions made not only in West Windsor but elsewhere."