Loftin - Coastal Coop Monitoring - New Jersey - Coastal Coop Monitoring.pdf · Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program • Program began in 1974 • Program revised and State Sanitary

Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program

New Jersey Department of Environmental ProtectionDivision of Watershed Management

Office of Watershed Education, Estuaries & Monitoring

Virginia Loftin

[email protected]

Summary

• CCMP Overview

• Monitoring Activities

• Potential Sources of Contamination at Beaches

• Beach Closings

•Aerial Surveillance of Coast

• Clean Shores Program

• Adopt A Beach Program

• Web Based Data Reporting

• Public Notification

• Funding Sources

Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program

• Program began in 1974

• Program revised and State Sanitary Code adopted in 1986

• Responded to public health concerns

• Provided data required for general and site-specific water quality analyses

Activities include:

• Weekly monitoring of bathing beaches for enterococcus bacteria

• Aerial surveillance of coast

• Regular inspections at coastal sewage treatment plants

• Public notification of beach conditions

Complimentary Programs:

Clean Shores Program, Adopt A Beach Program

NJ Department of Environmental Protection

NJ Department of Health and Senior Services

County Health Departments

Local Health DepartmentsMiddletown HDNortheast Monmouth Regional Health CommissionLong Branch HDLong Beach Township HDAtlantic City HD

Monmouth County HDOcean County HDAtlantic County HDCape May County HDMiddlesex County HD

Cooperative Program Between:

186 Oceanstations

Most oceanmonitoringstations areassociated withpotentialpollution sources

139 BayStations

All bay beachesare monitored

Monitoring begins in mid-May andruns through early September.Samples are collected weekly onMondays.

Standard is 104 enterococcibacteria per 100 mL ofsample

Coastal Lake Discharges

Deal Lake, Loch Arbour

Sylvan Lake, Avon

Monmouth County Health DepartmentRain Provisional Policy

Wreck Pond, Spring Lake

Coastal Sewage Treatment Plant Inspections

DEP inspects 17 coastal STPs and monitors discharges to coastal waters

Ocean Beach Closings1989 - 2005

3122

10

2634

49

4 718

3 816

09

177

6

0

0

1

1

3 6 3

24

16

58 4250

9

10

0

13

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Num

ber o

f Clo

sing

s

For Bacteria in Excess of Standard Precautionary Floatables

Bay Beach Closings 1992 - 2005

84

52

164

71 65

23 30 21 22

114

7

82 89

4

0

2

7

2 10

16

0 0

4

8

26 20

180

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Num

ber o

f Clo

sing

s

for bacteria in excess of standard precautionary

Bay Beach Closings1992 - 2005

Aerial Surveillance

What we’relooking for…

Middlesex County Utilities Authority

Raritan Bay outfall~95-150 mgd

What we usually see…

1-877-WARN DEP

CCMP staff on call 24/7 early Maythrough late September for anypollution reports in tidal waters

DEP staff respond topollution reports

Past Sources ofFloatable Debris…

Current Sources ofFloatable Debris…

Clean Shores

Dune fence and grass plantingduring spring and fall

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Mile

s cl

eane

d

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Mill

ions

of p

ound

s re

mov

e

miles cleaned

pounds (millions)

Clean Shores

1989 - 2005

US Army Corp of Engineers

Adopt A Beach

2 beach cleanups each year

~ 1000 volunteers/cleanup

Adopt A Beach

2005 Debris Source Data

Web-Based ReportingCompletely paperlesssystem - PDAsdistributed to allcounty field samplers

Field data isdownloaded at lab attime of sample drop-off

Web-Based Reporting• Lab managers enter

sample results directly onto web page

• System recommendsaction for agency officials(e.g. closures)

• Posting determinations areimmediately available onNJDEP and Earth 911websites

• Citizens, lifeguards, media,resorts, other stakeholdersreceive immediate emailalerts ofclosures/advisories via“opt-in”

• Results are immediatelyavailable for EPA BEACHData Flow.

Web-Based Reporting

•State-of-the-art technology reduces workload and streamlines datamanagement at all levels of government

•Government-to-Government and Government-to-Publicinformation exchange through one seamless network

1-800-648-SAND

Funding Sources

Up to $200K from the sale of theShore Protection License Plate

~ 280K each year from annualEPA BEACH grants – 90% is

passed through to counties