To: Barbara Genese, Times, Letters to the Editor From: Dianne Brake, President
Re: Watershed Management Planning is Key, not "Frivolous"
Founded in 1968 to promote sound land use at a regional scale, The Regional Planning Partnership has consistently supported watershed planning principles. RPP also supports the recent call from three of New Jersey's leading environmental groups for increased protection for streams. Because of our support for this protection, we were surprised to find in the Times March 20th article on stream protection a characterization of the watershed management planning process as "frivolous."
All of New Jersey's neighboring states are currently engaged in watershed management planning. Why? Because they recognize the need for a comprehensive, regional planning approach to water resource protection. According to the US EPA, the Center for Watershed Protection in Maryland and others, activities on land - new low-density development, fertilizer and pesticide applications on lawns, etc. - are now the biggest source of pollutants to water bodies. These sources of pollution are called "non-point" sources to distinguish them from "point" sources, such as industrial and sewer plant pipes.
Watershed management is particularly suited to addressing non-point source pollution, since both the problem and solutions come from the interaction between land use planning, construction practices, and individual behavior on the one hand and water quality, water quantity, flooding and natural habitats on the other. Such broad-based sources of water pollution and consumption must have a comprehensive and integrated approach to solutions. That is what watershed planning is all about.
RPP has long supported a two pronged watershed approach: 1) integrate the many separate permitting programs in New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) into a watershed-based approach to water quality and supply protection; and 2) undertake aggressive local government and public education and involvement to develop a regional, watershed-based approach to land use planning. Ad hoc permitting without watershed plans has resulted in the current degradation of our water quality and supply. Watershed planning is a vital companion to, and does not compete with other types of water quality regulation and enforcement. Long-term, more effective protection should not be pitted against short-term more partial protection. It is both/and, not either/or.
RPP recognizes there are problems with the current DEP led watershed management process, including a need for coordination among the 20 watershed management areas in the state. However, as a contract manager, RPP has received fervent support over the past year from citizens and municipal officials of the Central Delaware Tributaries (Watershed Management Area #11) to help them develop plans to protect their streams from "encroachment of development in headwaters." As part of the project, the group is using information from the RPP-developed computer model, GOZ®, to make better land use decisions. The model provides a build-out analysis of the watershed's zoning, an impact assessment of future development on water quality and the ability for towns to test alternative land use scenarios.
Concerned residents of the Central Delaware Tributaries recognize that it is land use decisions in Kingwood, Franklin and Delaware townships that will make or break the health of streams like the Lockatong and Wickecheoke that drain directly into the D&R Canal, a primary source of drinking water in central New Jersey. It is land use decisions in Alexandria and Holland townships that will affect whether residents and tourists can continue to fish in the trout production streams in Hunterdon County. And land use decisions have the potential to further degrade or improve the already industrially impacted Assunpink Creek in Mercer County. We urge the Governor to provide in his budget next week sufficient resources for DEP to undertake the science behind such watershed related programs as TMDL setting and water budgets. For these purposes, fees DEP collects should remain at DEP and not be sent into the general treasury. In this tight budget climate we urge him to seek efficiencies by ensuring that the watershed plans are coordinated with the Office of State Planning's new Endorsement Process, rather than cutting all the watershed programs.
With or without a state-supported watershed management process RPP will use our Smart Growth tools like GOZ®, our 3-System Planning process and Goal-Oriented Zoning Framework, to continue our thirty-year track record of promoting sound regional land use decisions. Without a state supported, clearly defined watershed management process, however, the work to protect water quality and supply will not proceed fast enough to achieve the protection New Jerseyans want and need.
The Regional Planning Partnership is a non-profit, non-partisan planning organization committed to sound land use planning and regional cooperation in New Jersey. With over thirty years experience, the Planning Partnership has become the independent voice for sensible development in New Jersey. Its programs and activities are supported by membership contributions from private citizens, area corporations and businesses, governmental bodies, and civic organizations. In addition, it receives funding for special projects from foundations and government contracts.