NJ lurches from drought to floods, but Christie Rollbacks Weaken DEP Management

heron doesn’t have a lot of water to wade in. Alexauken Creek, West Amwell (July 11, 2010). Stream flow is even lower today.

[Update: 8/23/10 – as I said, “NJ lurches from drought to floods” : today’s news:

• Bergen County flood waters  starting to ease
• North Jersey cloudbursts bring spot flooding, outages

“The ground is so hard now that when it rains it’s like pouring water on concrete, it’s running off everywhere”, Ziff said. ]

[Update: 8/14/10 – perfect example of chaos and DEP abdication – AP reports that Bergen County has declared mandatory restrictions at the request of private water company via Order of County Executive.: “Bergen County Imposes mandatory water restrictions“ –

But don’t worry, DEP said they’ll get their act together and have a draft plan by NEXT MAY!  – end updates ].

Last week, DEP finally issued a drought watch, and today said a warning or drought emergency would be issued in the next ten days unless there was significant rainfall (watch today’s NJN News Report by Ed Rodgers) (and click on “Water Supply Low“ (Aug. 11, 2010) – I can’t believe that as we are entering a drought, DEP says they will update the 14 year old Water Supply Master Plan, by NEXT MAY!] .

Sources in DEP advised me that private water companies are preparing their own drought emergency declarations and management plans, with little coordination with or deference to DEP regulators.

Worse, sources indicate that anticipated drought restrictions are causing chaos on the ground right now.

Quietly behind the scenes, municipalities and private water companies are scrambling to exploit their DEP water allocations and fill their tanks ahead of any restrictions, damn the consequences for the environment, the economy, or other towns and cities .

Documenting this first come/first serve “I’ve got mine Jack” chaos and lack of DEP management control of the situation, yesterday, the Bergen Record reported:

The DEP’s drought watch announcement last week “caused an immediate surge” in demand, said Colleen DeStefano, deputy executive director of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, which runs the Wanaque and Monksville reservoirs that provide water to both municipalities and utilities. “Everyone wanted to top off their reservoirs.”

The commission supplies United Water, the Passaic Valley Water Commission and individual cities and towns from Wayne to Newark.

DeStefano said many of the commission’s municipal and utility clients have been allowed to overdraft — that is, they’re taking more water than they are normally allocated, because of the increased demand on their supplies.

The Wanaque Reservoir, which has a capacity of 29 billion gallons, is down to 17.6 billion, or 59.6 percent of capacity, compared with 93.3 percent last year at this time. “We’re concerned,” DeStefano said.

Normally, the smaller Monksville reservoir is not tapped until late in October, but the commission may have to do it sooner this year.

The “Oradell Reservoir ‘s one of four operated by United Water, which serves about 800,000 customers in Bergen and Hudson counties” is at 47 percent of capacity, said United Water spokeswoman Sonja Clark. Combined, she said, the four are at 51 percent of capacity, compared to above 90 percent last summer.

The Oradell has taken on a greenish tinge because the lower water levels have allowed seeds to germinate and grow. In addition, the hot weather has increased water temperatures, encouraging more algae to bloom.

The Wanaque reservoir system also has an emergency backup source of water pumps along the Passaic and Ramapo rivers.

Normally, the DEP does not allow the commission to pump from the rivers until September, because dwindling river flows affect pollution levels and can harm fish and wildlife. The commission has petitioned the DEP to start pumping now, but so far the state has not granted permission, DeStefano said.

Despite these serious – and worsening – problems that demand statewide coordination and control, DEP’s already weak hand is being weakened further.

The resources and capacity of DEP programs to manage the causes and effects of drought have been eroding over many years and – remarkably – are now being rolled back by the Christie Administration. Follow this – it’s not  a pretty picture:

DEP last updated the NJ Statewide Water Supply Master Plan in 1996. That Plan establishes the scientific, data, and policy framework for managing state water supplies. The law mandates that the Plan be updated every 5 years, so an update was due in 2001, nine yeas ago.

Since the last Plan Update in 1996, there have been major changes on the ground that effect water supply management:

• water demand has soared due to population increase, more McMansion residential lawn watering, swimming pools, and golf course and agricultural irrigation;
• water supply has been reduced due to landscape changes, higher temperatures, less rainfall, less groundwater recharge, and higher pollution levels that eliminate summer river flows in the Passaic, Pompton, Hackensack, and Raritan rivers for water supply purposes;
• An aging infrastructure has gotten older and leakier – a multi-billion dollar infrastructure deficit has gone unfunded;
• over 300,000 acres of forests, wetlands, and farmlands have been lost to development, which significantly modifies the hydrological cycle;
• The ecological effects of diminished stream/river flows; loss of wetlands, riparian buffers, and vernal pools; and declining groundwater levels have become pronounced;
• The Highlands Master Plan process documented significant deficits in many watersheds;
• new science on water quality and unregulated pollutants has documented increasing public health and ecological risks; and
• global warming is increasing temperatures and changing rainfall, snowfall, and spring snowmelt patterns, thus altering fundamental hydrology and creating new demand and stressors.

Obviously, all these changes demand even stronger management by DEP, yet, despite these growing challenges, the Christie Administration started off with major missteps:

• Executive Order #2 imposed a moratorium on 12 DEP regulations, including 2 rules to update water supply regulations;
• The Christie Transition Reports attacked the Highlands Council/RMP and DEP regulations and DEP’s role in intervening in the private sector, thus curbing the effective power of DEP regulators and empowering private water companies;
• The Red Tape Review Process recommended that 15 other DEP regulations be reviewed for rollback, including rules related to water resource management. The 180 day Red Tape review of DEP rules is ongoing;
• The Water Supply Master Plan process seems to have fallen into a black hole;
• DEP Commissioner Martin blasted DEP “culture”,  issued a Reorganization, and announced a Transformation Plan. These have led to poor morale, bureaucratic chaos, and confusion. DEP is adrift; and
• Lack of Leadership – Commissioner Martin has yet to meet with the Water Supply Advisory Council, which has been perceived as a failure to make water supply issues a priority.

We leave now with a list of just a few of the benefits and controversial issues that must be addressed in the Water Supply Master Plan Update:

1. Revisions of Safe Yields and Minimum Passing Flows in light of new hydrological and climate data, including revisions to the NJ Geological Survey Technical Memorandum 09-3  “The Hydrological Integrity Assessment Process in New Jersey”

2. Revisions of Safe Yields and Minimum Passing Flows to address Ecological Flow Goals protections and cumulative impact methodology, including new restrictions on hydro-modification of wetlands systems and alteration of stream base flow, as illustrated by the Berlin Boro well case – NJ Geological Survey GSR 29 “GUIDELINES  FOR PREPARING HYDROGEOLOGIC REPORTS FOR WATER-ALLOCATION PERMIT APPLICATIONS”;

3. Establishing Cumulative impact thresholds and ecological standards for allowable withdrawals in groundwater dependent areas, in consideration of currently unregulated withdrawals (see this historical classic);

4. Developing a management program to better restrict and impose allocation requirements on farmers.

Under current rules, a DEP issued water alllocation permit is NOT required for agricultural uses, regardless of volume or impact. An Agricultural Water Usage Certification or Agricultural Water Use Registration must be obtained from the County agricultural agent if a person has the capability to withdraw ground and/or surface water in excess of 100,000 gallons per day for agricultural, aquacultural or horticultural purposes.

5. Financing necessary infrastructure upgrades and maintenence;

6. Strengthening the regulatory framework for emerging water quality and pollution issues.

7. Creating a real source water protection policy and implementing it in DEP programs;

8. Water conservation requirements, with effective monitoring and regulatory teeth;

9. Expanded hydrological monitoring network and more robust drought indicators;

10. Beefing up DEP resources and strengthening their control over private water companies;

11. Getting the Passiac/Hackensack Safe Yield Study on track;

12. Improved integration of water supply issues in DEP land use and water resource permit programs;

13. Improving science, monitoring, and data capabilities and coordination with the Highlands Council and RMP;

14. Educating the public on the need for water conservation.

15. Developing enforceable watershed specific and ecologically sustainable water budgets.

We welcome your additions to this list, as well as thoughts on how to address each concern.

Links to Water Supply Plan:

Debbie Mans, NY/NJ Baykeeper, speaks at Keyport press conference. (L-R: Dennis Suszkowski, Hudson River Foundation;Keyport local official (sorry, didn’t get her name!); Assemblywoman Joan Voss (D-Bergen); Baykeeper project coordinator.

Does the Christie Administration want to be known for the Third World practice of failing to protect food supplies from bacterial diseases caused by human feces?

[Updates below]

The headline of this post summarizes my view, and I’ve said about all I can (see prior posts, this and this and this).

crabbing – poaching? No health risks here!

This quote pretty much sum it all up (watch the video here, quote is at time 2:02):

There are 600 million clams in this bay – any one of which a person can eat and do eat – raw – and get just as sick as from eating those [Baykeeper research] oysters.   So how is removing five one thousandths of one percent of the shellfish from Raritan Bay going to keep anyone safe?”  Christopher Len, Staff attorney, NY/NJ Baykeeper

And let’s recall and keep the focus on the deficiencies FDA found in NJ’s shellfish sanitation program – which are contrary to DEP Commissioner Martin’s sham, diversionary, and self serving  focus on Baykeeeper oyster restoration research.

FDA concerns are the real threats to public health and the $790 million shellfish industry. Raw sewage discharged from “combined sewer overflows” is the problem. Lack of investment to upgrade decrepit wastewater treatment infrastructure is the problem. Lack of pollution controls at sewage treatment plants and industry is the problem. Rampant uncontrolled over-development is the problem. Fertilizers, pesticides, septic systems, and pharmaceuticals flushed down the toilet are the problem. Not Baykeeper’s oyster research.

If those FDA deficiencies are not corrected – and DEP has not even submitted the required Action Plan that was due to FDA on August 2 – the FDA may SHUT DOWN NJ’s shellfish industry and people might get sick from eating contaminated shellfish.

So, if NJ DEP has become nothing more than a security guard for the shellfish industry’s products, at least the profitable industry that benefits from those  services could find the money to pay for them (or face shutdown). In the past, it hasn’t had to go this far – the legislature restored funding to the DEP and DHSS programs to enable them to meet minimum FDA food safety requirements.

Here is what FDA found:

In a June 2, 2010 warning letter accompanying a scathing report, the FDA took the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to task for:

• Insufficient DEP staffing to meet patrol frequency requirements, particularly for prohibited, restricted, and closed areas that represent the greatest public health risks;
• Failure by DEP to purchase a larger and seaworthy vessel required to patrol shellfish growing waters, including Delaware Bay;
• DHSS noncompliance with inspection requirements for certified shellfish dealers.
• A serious (30%) shortfall in DEP marine water sampling due to loss of employees, a problem compounded by DEP layoff and furlough policies;
• The need for microbial pollution source tracking in waters fouled by non-point source pollution, including the upper Navesink River, Sandy Hook Bay, and Shrewsbury River;
• Absence of state regulations that prohibit overboard discharge of human bodily wastesand prevent the public health risks that result from such discharges.

So let’s repeat the question:

Does the Christie Administration want to be known for the Third World practice of failing to protect food supplies from bacterial diseases caused by human feces?

ps – there was some important new information disclosed yesterday, although you can’t read it in the Star Ledger coverage.

Kirk Moore of the  Asbury Park Press reported it:

According to DEP officials the only suitable relocation site in New Jersey is the Maurice River Cove on Delaware Bay at the opposite end of the state, in Cumberland County.

“It’s very strange because it seems you could be transferring disease,” said Greg Remaud, Baykeeper’s director for conservation.

Transplanting shellfish from “prohibited/restricted” polluted Raritan Bay to “approved” clean Delaware Bay risks transmission of invasive organisms and would jeopardize the regulatory status (“approved”) of Delaware Bay shellfish growing waters. These kinds of risks would surely prompt strong industry opposition.

DEP’s so called recommended alternative makes no sense scientifically – and I doubt that the “alternative” was recommended by scientists at DEP.

Invasive organisms are a serious problem. It is more of Martin grasping at straws to cover his ass, digging the hole even deeper.

Raritan Bay, Keyport. Too polluted for fish, shellfish, people and other living thing 

[Update #1: 8/11/10 – NJN news, Ed Rodgers covers the story. Watch video]

NY/NJ Baykeeper held a press conference yesterday to protest DEP’s termination of their oyster restoration research project in Raritan Bay, as well as to build public support for passsage of legislation to over-ride DEP’s decision (see S2122 (Cardinale (R-Bergen)/Sarlo (D-Bergen,Essex, Passaic).

[Update #1 a) : in juvenile fashion, just moments after the Baykeeper news conference, DEP fired back with a misleading press release – but at least now they have been forced to address the FDA deficiencies, which they suppressed back in June, and only were forced to respond to after we put out the FDA evaluation Report.]

[Update #2: 10/5/10 – more evidence that the Emperor is a fraud that has no clothes. Excerpt of Jim ONeill’s story in today’s Bergen Record:

Oyster study banned in N.J. will continue in N.Y. waters

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

BY JAMES M. O’NEILL

New Jersey officials ordered the removal of experimental oyster reefs from the Raritan Bay, but New York has given permission for similar reefs in New York Harbor.

The NY/NJ Baykeeper, partnering with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, today will announce plans to develop small reefs of oysters near Governors Island to see whether they can survive in polluted harbor waters so the state can eventually restore oysters to the harbor in larger numbers.

“We have expertise in creating experimental oyster beds from our work in New Jersey and we’re trying to transfer that to New York,” Debbie Mans, executive director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper, said Tuesday. “We’ve decided to focus our resources on New York since they’ve been more cooperative.”

She said the federal agencies have already donated the use of boats, expertise and technical resources for the project.  ~~~ end update]

[Update 2 – 8/4/10 – here’s some of those “toilet generated wastes”:

• Delaware Drinking Water at Risk: Prescription drugs on tap from major supplies”

Update 1 – Jim O’Neill of the Bergen Record does a good job expanding the focus and addressing priority issues: “N.J. beach water quality ranked 14th“]

I expect corporations, politicians, and government to deploy all sorts of euphemisms and propaganda in their efforts to defend the indefensible.

The classic on this topic remains George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language“.

Here’s a taste – I urge you to read the whole thing:

In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism., question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers.People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. […]

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as “keeping out of politics”.

But I do not expect the same tactics to be used by what are supposed to be sincere environmental advocates.

Environmental groups should have no “gap between their real and declared aims”. There should be no reluctance to “keep out of politics”. Thus, there should be no need to deploy euphemism and defend the indefensible, right?

Wrong.

Today’s special is “toilet generated wastes” (modified by “hygiene products“, no less!), a term – until today – I had never come across in my almost 40 years of study and work in the environmental field.

That term is used in a report that obfuscates the real problems and provides cover for those who are responsible for but badly failing to solve those problems.

And the culprits who use these euphemisms enjoy the highest credibility, public support, and media coverage.

Here’s what NRDC Report (dutifully covered by the Star Ledger in “N.J. counties delaying warnings, closures for beaches tested for poor water quality“) said –

“Sewer systems in and around the New York/New Jersey Harbor are designed so that during periods of wet weather, excess flows are discharged to the harbor waters. These excess flows contain floating debris comprised of litter and toilet generated waste such as hygiene products.”

First of all, NRDC left out qualifiers before the word “designed”, like “poorly” or “19th century” or “antiquated“. The unqualified use of “design” makes that failing and crumbling  infrastructure seem OK.

Second, don’t miss the circle chart on page 2, where NRDC documents that NJ DEP does not know what 93% of the source of the pollution is, but somehow does know that only 3% of it is from sewage. This clearly is “designed”to let polluters off the hook.

Third, aside from failing to educate the public about a major pollution and infrastructure problem (known as CSO/SSO in the regulatory jargon) and to criticize DEP for poor performance, how is it possible mathematically to calculate 3% of a value that is not known?

And last, the Report fails to emphasize that ecological and public health impacts from raw sewage discharge of “toilet generated waste” are far more significant than the misplaced focus on “litter” and “floating debris”. But when all you’ve got is a hammer (e.g. COA beach litter cleanups, LNG, and cover for NJ Republican governors), everything looks like a nail.

I spent all of 3 minutes reviewing this report and found these major flaws – does anybody edit these things?

Our view is that environmental advocates have a moral duty to tell it like it is, and hold corporately polluters and government accountable. We believe that our efforts suffer when we sugarcoat the bad news and dodge calling out the poor performance of our so called allies leading the government agencies. Worse, obfuscation and pulling punches misleads the public, such that we never generate the kind of public concern and political support to get things done.

The press takes government statements at face value and prints them as fact without any evidence to support them. The overall public perception is that environmental problems are being solved and government agencies are protecting their interests. We all know that this is far from true.

But no wonder things are so wrong, when the advocates themselves lose the ability to speak truth to power, and thereby enable and contribute to this set of problems.

Here’s what NRDC should have said (oh, but that might generate some “political” concerns):

When it rains, antiquated 19th century pipes discharge millions of gallons of raw sewage you flush down your toilet and an unknown stew of toxic chemicals from raw sewage and storm water runoff  to NY Harbor and our ocean waters.

In NJ, 14 sewage plants discharge partially treated sewage to the ocean, hundreds of industries discharged partially treated toxic industrial effluents to rivers that flow to the ocean, and thousands of miles of old sewer lines and septic tanks throughout the coastal zone are leaking raw sewage to groundwater, soils, and local streams.

On top of all this crap that winds up in the ocean, are the toxic discharges to groundwater and surface runoff from thousands of leaky old toxic waste sites and landfills that have not been cleaned up.

River sediments, poisoned by more than 100 years of industrial waste discharges, with toxic chemicals like PCB’s from the Hudson River, and dioxin, chromium, heavy metals, and a stew of organic chemicals from the Passaic River, continue to impact coastal ecosystems and public health (as great or greater impacts than banned ocean dumping??).

When you go swimming in the ocean or eat fish and shellfish, you are exposed to all these chemicals, bacteria, and viruses.

Scientists have very little understanding of how these chemicals effect human health and ecosystems.

But available data suggest that all this pollution has a significant negative impact on the declining health of ocean ecosystems and fisheries.

The NJ DEP has a very poor handle on all of this – according to the State’s own reports, 93% of pollution sources are not identified by the DEP.

For years, DEP has failed across many fronts in regulating and enforcing pollution and land use controls.

Worse, the current Christie Administration is engaged in an across the board assault on regulations and DEP’s remaining resources supporting science, monitoring, permitting and enforcement capabilities.

The conventional wisdom – and code words – for today’s page one story “Rowan, Rutgers study says N.J. is running out of open space, renews urban sprawl debate” is that:

the report has renewed the volatile sprawl debates in the state

So we thought we’d give readers a sense of the volatility.

We are much indebted to those brave academics at Rutgers and Rowan. They do fine technical work on land use/land cover and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) map depiction of that data. But their sense of timing is less than impeccable.

In fact, over 3 years ago, we released very similar data from Rutgers and Rowan researchers (see below). And for years prior to that, we testified at numerous legislative hearings and DEP regulatory proceedings to inject that work to support stronger land use and water resource protection laws, policies, and regulations.

Those efforts fell on deaf ears in the press, the legislature, and over at DEP.

The academics and planners at places like NJ Future generally were nowhere to be found – unless they were supporting even more growth and undermining DEP environmental, infrastructure (water and sewer) and land use regulations.

We note that the academics were extremely reluctant to discuss their work (one reason why we chose to release it), or educate the public about the implications of their data, or engage the “volatile” policy debate. Of course, that abdication unwittingly undermined our efforts.

So, a significant part of the problem is that those same academics have sat on the sidelines for two decades as the sprawl boom consumed the NJ landscape.

But now, those same academics take a high profile in releasing land use/land cover data – but, as they say, the horse has been galloping out of the barn for years.

Worse, given the economic recession and the policy agenda of the Christie Administration with respect to environmental regulations (i.e. “Red Tape”), DEP (i.e. “a barrier to economic development”), and the Highlands Act (i.e. “needs to be repealed”), that data can only feed the backlash.

And kicking the builders when they are down is only going to help those rollback efforts.

In this context, this report can only lead to attacks on land preservation and environmental regulation as the cause of the collapse of the housing industry.

The KHov spinsmeister already laid down that line in today’s story, i.e. (paraphrasing) “we’ve got plenty of land, it just that too much is preserved. We better stop that and rollback preservation, the Highlands, and land use regulations at DEP to stimulate the market and create jobs”.

This Big Lie issue framing has been building for months – it has tremendous momentum, has been accepted as the dominant narrative by the media, and has gone virtually unchallenged by the disorganized and clueless environmental community.

Hold on to your hats, you are about to experience some of that unspecified “volatility” – see below.

For Immediate Release: April 16, 2007

Contact: Bill Wolfe (609) 397-4861; Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337

WHEN IT RAINS…IT FLOODS — New Jersey Continues to Lose War on Sprawl New Figures Show

Trenton — Amidst a backdrop of another day of major statewide flooding, the latest study shows that New Jersey, already the nation’s most densely populated state, continues to lose farmland, forests and open space to development, according to figures posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This rampant and accelerating loss of land comes despite state officials’ claims that they are “winning the war on sprawl” and the “race for open space.”

Due to the flooding, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection DEP) abruptly cancelled a briefing today on the most recent data on land use/land cover from a Rutgers/Rowan University Study. Based on aerial photographs taken between 1995 and 2002, the study shows New Jersey suffered a rapid rate of urban development and loss of open space:

• Urban Development Rate. From 1995-2002, urban development spread over another 105,988 acres of New Jersey’s landscape. The annual rate of urban development statewide during that period was 15,140 acres per year. This represents an increase in the rate of development from the 1986 to 1995 period rate of 14,886 acres per year;
• Loss of Open Space. The majority of open space loss was farmland (55,530 net acres lost); and
• Hotspots for forest, farmland, and wetlands losses. The study shows a significant increase in the conversion of forest land since the previous period. The major hotspots of upland forest loss (more than 500 acres per year) include the coastal counties of Atlantic, Monmouth and Ocean, where the annual rates of forest loss have all significantly increased (+58%, +82%, and +59%, respectively) and Morris county (north central Jersey) which lost approximately 741 acres per year. Wetlands loss followed a largely similar pattern to the areas of rapid development, with coastal and central counties experiencing the greatest loss.

“This data shows that what we are doing is not working,” stated New Jersey PEER Director, Bill Wolfe, referring to DEP touting the combination of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan, strict environmental regulation, the Highlands Act, and the Green Acres/Farmland Preservation land acquisition programs. “These alarming findings validate the views of my esteemed colleague, Bill Neil, former Audubon Society Conservation Director, who called the State Plan the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on the people of New Jersey.”

The continued loss of wetlands, forests and farmlands aggravates the effect of storm surges and storm-related flooding. In addition, it negatively affects watershed protection, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, recreation, and other important values.

DEP has been delaying the adoption of long-promised new regulations to strictly regulate development, protect threatened and endangered species habitat, impose stream buffers, and prohibit extension of water, sewer and septic system infrastructure to all remaining environmentally sensitive lands.

“State officials need to get serious about preserving what’s left of our rapidly vanishing landscape before the bulldozers pave what is left,” Wolfe concluded.

###

View the Rutgers/Rowan University study data

Look at today’s “by invitation only” DEP data briefing invitation

Read about past DEP failures to enforce regulations

Note delays in adopting coastal protections

Examine PEER comments urging tougher rules for stream buffers

New Jersey PEER is a state chapter of a national alliance of state and federal agency resource professionals working to ensure environmental ethics and government accountability.

Increased Health Risks and Chronic DEP Failure To Enact Protections cries out for media, citizen and legislative intervention

[Update: 7/27/10 – Joe Tyrrel of NJNewsroom writes a good story “Radioactivity rampant in New Jersey well water” – I can’t believe that DEP chose to point out the cost benefit analysis- I guess the Christie people have no moral qualms with trading off hundreds of lives lost in horrible cancer deaths for a few pennies a day:

DEP spokesman Larry Hajna rejected the suggestion that the agency has been sitting on the information. The report was part of an ongoing process, with information posted on the DEP website, while the private well data results from a state law, he said.

“We definitely know there’s a problem,” he said. “We’re developing this information and working to protect the public.”

He pointed to the report’s cost-benefit analyses for various levels of stringency. The 800 picocurie standard would cost an estimated $404,103 per life saved.

[7/26/10 correction: I shouldn’t have said DEP has done nothing. You see, they had the balls to fine Pemberton $4,500 for failing to provide timely notification to DEP for one well- while at the same time DEP does not disclose and covers up a statewide problem impacting thousands of wells used by over 1 million NJ residents.

And way back in 2004, under real leadership, DEP did try to get the word out – but take a look at this DEP Guidance and note by how much current data exceeds the risks then presented. Risk are FAR greater.

And its been no secret among experts for a long time – see this 1998 USGS study – but what explains the low news coverage? Compare the sparse news coverage these significant risks with the massive media coverage of the nuke plant tritium leaks]

(Intro Note to readers: aside from criticisms of the annual DEP Private Well Testing Act Reports (and see this ), we have not done a lot of work on the drinking water program. But we decided to take a closer look at DEP’s drinking water program because the Christie Administration decided to attack drinking water regulations in Executive Order #2. We do not like what we see. We also note that environmental activist Dave Pringle of NJEF is no longer the Chair of the Health Effects Committee of the Drinking Water Quality Institute, so a voice for the public interest from the inside has been lost, thus heightening the need for outside public scrutiny. The DWQI Chair resigned, members have not been appointed, and the DWQI is in disarray. This is occurring as science finds increasing risks from hundreds of unregulated toxic pollutants in the water supply, toxic sites are not cleaned up, infrastructure deficits grow, and over-development continues to pollute even more NJ water supply waters).

It is fair to say that NJ’s drinking water program is broken and in need of outside intervention, having proven incapable of responding to chronic problems and increasing public health risks.

In March, we disclosed the fact that DEP Commissioner Martin killed a proposed new drinking water standard for perchlorate (see: CHRISTIE DEEP-SIXES NEW JERSEY PERCHLORATE STANDARD – Red Tape Review Runs Out Clock on Rocket Fuel in Drinking Water Limit)

We later exposed documents that proved that Martin’s explanation for why he killed the perchlorate standard was false (see: RATIONALE FOR NEW JERSEY WATER QUALITY DELAY IS BOGUS – Commissioner Claim of Imminent EPA Perchlorate Action Contradicted by E-Mails

Exposing even greater risks that were being ignored by DEP, in May, we disclosed that DEP had failed to update and lower many standards recommended by scientists:

TIGHTER NEW JERSEY DRINKING WATER STANDARDS IN OBLIVION Drinking Water Institute Chair Resigns in Frustration; Successor to be Announced

Trenton – A five-year effort to update limits on more than 30 contaminants commonly found in New Jersey’s drinking water appears to be doomed by the anti-regulatory stance of the Christie administration, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, New Jersey residents will continue to be exposed to chemicals ranging from benzene to formaldehyde in amounts that its expert Drinking Water Quality Institute (DWQI) has found unsafe. (link to full report)

We now report that DEP is not warning the public about risks, setting standards, and mandating treatment systems be installed for some radioactive contaminants known to be present at unsafe levels in thousands of NJ wells.

Just like perchlorate and more than a dozen other toxic chemicals, more than a year and a half later, DEP still has not acted on a February 2009 recommendation by the NJ Drink Water Quality Institute that DEP adopt a standard for radon 222.

DEP is aware of risks associated with uranium and ineffective treatments systems homeowners may be relying on, yet have not provided warnings or regulations to reduce these risks.

Below is some prior coverage we generated previously. But despite these exposes, nothing has changed at DEP – in fact, the problems at DEP have gotten worse and the risk to the public have increased. This is an unacceptable situation that cries out for media, citizen and legislative, intervention to demand reforms:

[7/26/10 correction: I shouldn’t have said DEP has done nothing. You see, they had the balls to fine Pemberton $4,500 for failing to provide timely notification to DEP for one well- while at the same time DEP does not disclose and cover up a statewide problem impacting thousands of wells used by over 1 million NJ residents]

N.J. finds many private wells contaminated
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20080829_N_J__finds_many_private_wells_contaminated.html

Contaminants found in 300 Morris wells
NJ study finds 1 in 8 private wells contaminated
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080828/UPDATES01/80828005/1005/NEWS01

State: 1 in 8 private wells contaminated
Officials urge more testing
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080828/NEWS03/808280507/1007
The story has gained national attention also. See:
Radioactivity, Arsenic Contaminate New Jersey Drinking Water
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-28-093.asp

Drink at your own risk
Posted by Bill Wolfe August 27, 2008 1:21PM
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/08/drink_at_your_own_risk.html

I followed that NJ Voices post up with a widely distributed press release yesterday:
WIDESPREAD CONTAMINATION FOUND IN NEW JERSEY DRINKING WATER – Survey of Wells Is Far From Well; State Does Not Follow-Up on Pollutants
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1095

See below press release with links to supporting documents.

Press Release

For Immediate Release: Monday, July 26, 2010

Contact: Bill Wolfe (609) 397-4861; Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337

Radioactive Wells Pose Bigger Risks in New jersey

Hundreds of Thousands Exposed Daily to Rad Levels Many Times over Safety Limits

Trenton – Radioactivity levels in state drinking water wells are much higher than previously known and at-risk wells cover a bigger slice of the Garden State, according to agency documents released today byPublic Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Despite significant adverse public health implications of the findings, the state has not taken steps to alert or protect affected populations.

Naturally occurring radiation has long been a known presence in New Jersey’s well water. But, according to new scientific findings presented at the May 7, 2010 meeting of the state Drinking Water Quality Institute (DWQI), the extent and depth of radioactivity levels are grounds for renewed concern:

• Official Private Well Testing Act data show that 10.7% of wells in the coastal plain violate the drinking water Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for gross alpha (i.e., radiological contaminants). Levels in excess of 30 times the MCL have been reported;
• Additional health risks in Northern New Jersey due to uranium are now being discovered; and
• The treatment system for gross alpha from radium is NOT effective in treating risk for uranium. Thus, homeowners who install certain treatment systems incorrectly think they are protected, when they are not protected if uranium is the source of radiation in their well water.

A February 2009 DWQI report estimated that more than 211,000 people are exposed to an individual cancer risk which is 600 times the acceptable risk level. DWQI recommended that the state adopt a drinking water MCL for radon 222 but it was not acted upon and no follow-up action is scheduled.

“The state should not be sitting on this information.  Officials need to warn affected homeowners now that they may need treatment systems or that they have the wrong systems,” stated New Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe, noting 13 other key drinking water protections recommended at the May 7^th DWQI meeting were also orphaned by the Christie administration.  “This is yet another instance where supposed regulatory reform becomes regulatory retreat, leaving the public unprotected from dangers that the government is supposed to address.”

Under state law individual homeowners are notified about their well contamination readings only upon sale of the property, otherwise individual well data is confidential.  In addition, there is only routine regional testing for gross alpha in the 12 southern and central New Jersey counties.  In order to track gross alpha from uranium decay, which is being detected in northern counties, new regulations are required.

“Homeowners should not require lead suits to go to their wells,” Wolfe added.  “The state needs to take affirmative steps to change laws and rules so that excess radiation is no longer an accepted side effect in our drinking water.”

###

View the DWQI PowerPoint presentation

Read the Radon 222 report

See pollution pattern in New Jersey drinking water wells

Look at the breakdown of water quality standard-setting in New Jersey

New Jersey PEER is a state chapter of a national alliance of state and federal agency resource professionals working to ensure environmental ethics and government accountability