DEP Ignoring Clean Water Needs

Thinking of cooler days - Delaware River from Bowman's Tower (11/25/11)

A combination of heat, allergies, and allergy medicines have me knocked down today, so we’ll take this time to preview an upcoming series of posts on DEP performance.

Sunday, I wrote the first in the series: DEP Fails Clean Water Metric – EPA Battle Brewing

That kickoff post focused on the Clean Water Act TMDL program.

We show that DEP recently has taken action to use the TDML program to rollback pollution limits for sewage plants discharging to highly sensitive trout streams, and preview a battle brewing on DEP’s pending rollback of “Category One” (C1) stream buffers.

Here’s the next few topics for the next week or so, all with the common themes of water and lack of performance (tipping my hand, so DEP spinmeisters can anticipate and get out front!):

• How’s Your Drinking Water? DEP has Not Reported Well Data For Over 5 Years

• How is the Clean Water Enforcement Act Doing in the Age of Christie “Regulatory Relief”? – Don’t Know – Reports Delayed

• Are Permit Extension Act and Waiver Rule Justified?  Despite Claims that DEP Permit Review Blocks Economic Development, DEP Permit Status Management Report Backlogged

• DEP Recycles 3 Year Old Stormwater Report as Barnegat Bay Model

• Millions of Gallons of Raw Sewage Enter NJ Rivers Every Time It Rains – Yet DEP CSO Program Dead in the Water

• North Jersey Water War Highlights Need for Water Supply Plan and Upgrades in Pollution Control and Drinking Water Treatment

• No Progress on Upgrading Water Quality Standards To Reflect Current Science

• Stream Buffer Program About to Be Weakened

• Garden State Seafood and Fisheries: Not S0 Fresh

• Litigation on Highlands Septic Density Standard – Where Is It?

• What Ever Became of the Source Water Protection Program?

We promise to keep readers and activists informed and will lay out our critique, based on DEP’s own documents.