2002: WaterWatch International calls for a public forum on Water Quality and Supply in Atlantic County, New Jersey
As a volunteer water monitoring group and an educational organization, WATERWATCH International is chartered under the State of New Jersey for the purpose of promoting environmental education. Therefore, our agenda for a water forum in Atlantic County revolves around the belief that the citizens of our county need to know as much as they can about our water supplies, past, present and future.
Because our mission is to preserve water quality, we are also interested in the process of conserving and recycling fresh water whenever possible as this process can also help to reduce waste water emissions.
Since September 22 of this year, when Governor McGreevey and Bradley Campbell of the DEP issued a moratorium on construction in Atlantic County, water forums hosted by the Association of New Jersey Environmental Councils, have been held in Cumberland and Gloucester counties. Speakers from the DEP and the USGS spoke about current water supplies and future plans. All meetings were open to the public, well attended and reported on by the media.
Information was disseminated for the purposed of educating the public about water issues and the challenges which face our State in the present and future. Questions were asked and answered. The people in attendance seemed thankful to have been able to discuss the problems we face.
John Ferrie, President of the South Jersey Landscaping Assn., has pointed out that his landscapers have been " terrified that bans on lawn watering and water restrictions could shut down their industry" (NJ Monthly, Sept. 2002 - "Drought"). But he also wonders that if "they don't have the water now, where are they going to get it twenty years from now when 20,000 more houses are here?"
Mr. Campbell, in justifying his restrictions, has indicated that a massive shift in "how we view the relationship between land and water" will be required. As he explained, we have had a "mentality that the resource would always be there, even as we paved the recharge areas and built in the headwaters" ("Drought", Kirk Moore, NJ Monthly).
This past year has been a watershed (no pun intended) for dealing with water-related issues: People are asking questions like, how much water is really in the aquifers? What will be the future rates of drought and precipitation? How can water be recycled? Is it economical? What other alternatives are available for clean water? What about desalination plants? How much has the population expanded in our area? What are the predictions for future development?
The average citizen didn't think much about these things until he or she was told they could no longer water their lawn, wash their car or build their home. Now they want to know why.
And they want to know how much it is going to cost, because we intuitively understand that a price tag in the form of taxes and fees will be attached somehow to these issues. How else will they be funded?
It is important to enroll the public in these issues and explain the costs that may accompany the changes so that resistance does not build out of ignorance.
It is important to explain that the Pinelands Commission is sponsoring a comprehensive study of the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system. We need to tell people why lawmakers may be adding new fees to water bills, using the money to preserve land around reservoirs and clean polluted wells. Why the State needs to order odd-even schedules for watering lawns or push golf courses and factories to use treated sewage, leaving fresh aquifer water for household use.
What if, for instance, the past 30 years represented an unusually "wet" period of time for the Garden State and the future may be a return to more "normal" rainfalls of less than 45 inches per year. Climatologist David Robinson of Rutgers feels that we may never get back to the "50 or 45 inches of rainfall per year which we learned to rely on" (Record, November 26, 2002).
Even with the 45 inches of rain per year, only a small percentage of it gets into the ground water according to Dr. Anthony Navoy of the USGS. Knock off 22 inches from the annual rainfall for rainwater runoff directly into streams and rivers.
Then, as he recently explained at a water forum in Vineland, "subtract evaporation and transpiration (water drawn up and used by trees and other vegetation) and after this, you are lucky to have 14 inches soak into the ground every year."
Add to that, a population density which was predicted to reach 8.3 million by 2010 but has already surpassed 8.4 million in 2000.
Combine the water shortage with rising demand and population densities and the future may be one in which water crises could be as common as last year's brown-outs in California or rush-hour traffic jams on the NJ Turnpike.
What will this mean in terms of quality of life for Atlantic County residents where a balance of fresh and salt water creates a condition for our wetlands which encourages waterfowl migration along with fishing, boating birding and a pace of life that has drawn people to this area for generations.
As Angela Andersen of the American Littoral Society has pointed out, new sewers mean more draw upon the aquifer, with increased runoff from paved roads, creating "non-source pollution in the form of road oils, pesticides, fertilizers, and pet waste which finds its way into our waters." (Times-Beacon 10/23).
Our current statewide water demand consumes about 1.5 million gallons per day (Alex Nussbaum, Record, 11/26, 2002). But in the 1970's, I watched the Federal Clean Water Act create regional sewerage authorities along the coast of NJ which formed a network of pipes, collecting dirty wastewater, cleaning it up and pumping it through outfall pipes to rivers and the ocean. Atlantic County alone, pumps nearly 28 million gallons of treated aquifer water daily into the sea.
I am, personally, very proud of ACUA and the county and state in which I reside. We have been national leaders in recycling our solid waste and improving our water quality. Now, we are faced with a new set of challenges and how we respond depends a lot on the type of leadership we provide.
I feel that our county can be leaders in this issue as we have been in the past with other issues which have made us one of the most desirable places in the country to live. We encourage the county to assist in a water forum which will help to educate our people and provide us with the planning which will continue to keep us strong as a community.
