Barnegat Bay estuary, approximately 42-miles long, is separated from the Atlantic by a long barrier peninsula and the north end of Long Beach Island. The 660-square-mile Barnegat Bay watershed encompasses most of the 33 municipalities in Ocean County and four municipalities in Monmouth County.
The Bay, a 75-square-mile estuarine system, has aquatic vegetation, shellfish beds, finfish habitats, waterfowl nesting grounds and spectacular vistas. The 550,000 population more than doubles during the summer season.
The ecological health of Barnegat Bay is in decline, threatening the economic health of the region. Intense development over the past 50 years has degraded the region's delicate habitat and compromised water quality in the shallow bay, where pollution filters out very slowly. The dramatic growth in impervious cover has increased nonpoint source pollution, prevented infiltration to groundwater, and resulted in severe habitat loss, which impacts the estuary’s fisheries and other biological resources.
The Barnegat Bay Partnership (formerly the Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program) is one of 28 congressionally designated National Estuary Programs in the United States working to improve the health of nationally significant estuaries. The program is sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders, and Ocean County College.
Save Barnegat Bay is a not-for-profit environmental group working to conserve undeveloped natural land and clean water throughout the Barnegat watershed. SBB fights imprudent development of the region by reviewing and commenting on development proposals on the local and state levels. SBB also has purchased environmentally sensitive land using Green Acres, foundation, and other funding to permanently protect it as natural open space.
Trust for Public Land has worked to conserve the highly vulnerable land within the Barnegat watershed. TPL's report, Barnegat Bay 2020: A Vision for the Future of Conservation, outlines the future of a rejuvenated watershed by: 1) making a case for land conservation as a water quality protection tool, 2) identifying the highest priority parcels to protect, 3) evaluating land for passive recreational access and use and 4) enhancing the scenic quality of the watershed.
American Littoral Societyempowers people to care for the coast through programs focused on education, advocacy, and conservation. In 2011, ALS received a $1 million Clean Water Grant to tackle stormwater runoff in the Barnegat Bay watershed. The grant supports ALS efforts to clean up polluted stormwater, a major source of water quality problems in the Bay.
The Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve is one of the two national estuarine reserves created to promote the responsible use and management of the nation's estuaries through a program combining scientific research, education, and stewardship. Administered through Rutgers, JC NERR conducts research on the physical, chemical, and biological components of the site estuaries and neighboring watersheds, and has issued the report Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary: Ecosystem Condition and Recommendations.
action plan to address the ecological health of Barnegat Bay. The Plan includes passage of legislation, land preservation and resolving the issue of a cooling system at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant.
Closure of the Oyster Creek plant, the oldest operating nuclear generating facility in the nation, will occur no later than December 31, 2019. Exelon, which owns and operates the plant, has pledged to ensure an environmentally safe shutdown of the facility, which currently draws significant amounts of water from the Bay for cooling and then discharges the heated water into the Bay.
The New Jersey Legislature passed five laws to help reduce pollution in Barnegat Bay:
- To reduce nutrient pollution from fertilizers, a New Jersey law establishes the standards for nitrogen content in fertilizer and puts limits on application rates and dates in order to best manage nutrients. Not only will these requirements help reduce the nitrogen loadings into the Bay, but the waterways in other areas of New Jersey will see an improvement in water quality.
- Legislation required the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to determine whether Barnegat Bay is "impaired" due to excessive nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous), and, if it is, to adopt total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for Barnegat Bay ecosystem. The law also required DEP to adopt nutrient standards for NJ marine waters, like Barnegat Bay. Governor Christie issued a conditional veto for the TMDL bill asking for changes but the Senate and Assembly have not made these changes, so the legislation has not been signed.
- The Soil Restoration law requires the State Soil Conservation Committee to adopt standards to restore soils that have become compacted due to development activities. Compacted soils do not absorb rainfall and snowmelt, thus increasing the amount of surface runoff that flows into streams and wetlands.
- The Stormwater Basins law requires the state Department of Transportation to study stormwater basins in Barnegat Bay watershed and requires DOT and NJ Turnpike Authority to include repairs of stormwater structures associated with their roads in capital project plans.
- Ocean County Stormwater Management System Demonstration Act authorized the creation of a stormwater utility authority, or for the Ocean County Planning Department to assume authority for creating a stormwater management system for the county.
The NJ DEP will also be taking several actions to help Barnegat Bay:
- Funding will be prioritized for Stormwater Runoff Mitigation Projects to address nutrient pollution from stormwater basins.
- A Special Area Management Plan will be developed in collaboration with members of the Barnegat Bay Partnership and other regional planning authorities. The primary goals of the SAMP are to improve coordination among planning jurisdictions and recommend any additional required research to the NJDEP.
- NJDEP and its partners launched a new comprehensive ambient water quality monitoring network in the Barnegat Bay watershed. This will provide water quality data to establish baseline conditions of the Bay and assess these conditions against water quality standards.
- NJDEP Office of Science has been working with the Science Advisory Board, state universities, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Barnegat Bay Partnership to develop and fund additional research projects that will: address filling in the data gaps; help address how we improve water quality and advance habitat restoration on the Bay; and establish baseline conditions of the Bay.
* Towns with Environmental Commissions
Barnegat Light Borough*
Bay Head Borough*
Beach Haven Borough*
Harvey Cedars Borough*
Island Heights Borough*
Little Egg Harbor Township*
Long Beach Township*
Ocean Gate Borough*
Pine Beach Borough*
Point Pleasant Beach Borough*
Point Pleasant *
Seaside Heights Borough*
Seaside Park Borough
Ship Bottom Borough*
South Toms River Borough*
Surf City Borough*
Toms River Township*