Dirty Drinking ; Quality of State’s Water Supply Getting Worse

IT’S almost impossible to read the list of pollutants in New Jersey’s waterways and not conjure up images of some mad scientist’s chamber of horrors.

Arsenic in the Hackensack River. Mercury in the Oradell Reservoir. PCBs, cyanide and dioxin in the Passaic River. Pathogens and phosphorus in the Wanaque Reservoir. Totally dissolved solids (dirt, sewage or chemical contaminants) in the Hohokus Brook.

The news that 70 percent of the state’s waterways do not meet federal water-quality standards is extremely disheartening, considering that three years ago, the percentage was actually lower. In tests done in 2004 by the state Department of Environmental Protection, 63 percent of New Jersey’s waters failed to meet the standard. Now it’s almost three-quarters.

What’s going on?

The state says the disparity doesn’t necessarily mean the waters are more polluted; it could mean the testing has gotten better.

We are not reassured. The bottom line is the waters aren’t any cleaner. In fact, they appear to be getting dirtier and more unhealthy.

In North Jersey, 17 rivers, brooks, lakes and reservoirs do not meet the federal clean water standard. The pollution of the state’s waters comes from sewer plants, farm and garden fertilizers, pesticides, motor oil, gasoline, road salt and other chemicals. It comes from storm water and wastewater runoff. It comes from pet and livestock waste. It comes from the loss of wetlands and open space and the endless increase in development and sprawl.

Environmentalists warn repeatedly that North Jersey’s love of development is hurting our water supply. They warn that sprawl with its landscaping and parking lots and traffic congestion is increasing the contaminated runoff that ends up in our streams and brooks. But development continues unabated.

Periodically, we hear of new state and federal programs and efforts to protect the water supply, reduce contamination and help municipalities control flooding and stop pollution. New plans are always in the works, but somehow, the waters don’t get any cleaner.

For example, progress on the cleanup of the toxic mud in the Passaic River, one of the most polluted rivers in the nation, has been stuck for years. One experiment under consideration would bake the tainted sediment and mix it with cement for road paving. Another would wash the sediment with an oxidizing agent and mix it with topsoil.

As Staff Writer Colleen Diskin reported recently, industrial poisons have swirled at the bottom of the Passaic River for decades while the experts pondered what to do.

They are still pondering. The federal Environmental Protection Agency is studying a 17-mile stretch of the contaminated river, as far north as Clifton and Garfield. The results are expected in 2011.

The EPA does say it will start an interim cleanup of a lower portion of the river sometime this year.

But don’t drink to that yet.

(c) 2007 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.