DEP wants counties to handle water quality
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

By ASHLEY KINDERGAN
HERALD NEWS

The state's environmental agency wants counties to take over water quality management from the many separate agencies now in charge, but local officials say they are hard-pressed to handle the task.

In Passaic County, the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners and various municipal utilities make water quality management plans, which guide how wastewater will be treated to prevent pollution. The county engineering department says it does not have the manpower or experience to do the job.

The proposed state rule would give the county nine months to come up with a plan. If it doesn't, developers building projects will not be able to connect to sewer lines until a plan is submitted and approved by the state.

"It sounds like they're trying to put the onus on the counties to develop these plans we don't have to do now, and penalizing the property owners if the county cannot meet its objectives," said Passaic County Engineer Steve Edmond.

Currently, the responsibility for making wastewater management plans is divided among 161 entities, including several counties, municipalities and utility authorities.

The state seeks to consolidate that power at the county level, reasoning that fewer entities involved would allow for broader planning to improve water quality, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection rule proposal.

The various wastewater planning entities are required to update their plans every six years, but less than 8 percent have complied, said DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura.

The new deadline may be extended if counties show they are working on a plan.

The state has committed to provide $1 million of its own money and $120,000 in federal funds to be shared by the state's 21 counties to fund the new plans, Makatura said.

Still, several municipalities are concerned about what could happen to future development if the county can't make the deadline. Clifton City Manager Al Greco said he worried that projects could be delayed if new sewer hookups are not allowed.

The rule would also require development in large swaths of environmentally sensitive areas to have septic tanks, rather than sewer connections.

That provision may not affect Passaic County as much as other parts of the state, because many areas here are already effectively protected from new sewer connections by the state Highlands Act of 2004.

Environmentalists consider the rule a boon for the state because it prevents more sewer lines from encroaching in less developed areas, but say loopholes in the law would allow the DEP to grant exemptions.

"Pulling back sewer areas from environmentally sensitive areas is a big step forward," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club. "But then there's a lot of little loopholes."

Robert S. Baranowski, a lawyer who specializes in environmental and land use law, said the septic rule would probably result in lower density development because zoning laws in many towns require larger minimum lot sizes for projects that use septic systems.

In a separate rule proposal, the DEP is upgrading 910 miles of rivers and brooks to require more stringent environmental protection -- barring development within 300 feet of their banks. Several of the protected water bodies lie in the up-county areas that produce water for the entire state.

All tributaries that drain into the Wanaque Reservoir will be protected, as will several stretches of the Pequannock River, including Dunker Pond Brook in West Milford.

One million people drink North Jersey District Water Supply Commission water from the Wanaque Reservoir tributaries, and 250,000 people get their water from the Pequannock River through the Newark Water Department.

Reach Ashley Kindergan at 973-569-7164 or Kindergan@northjersey.com.


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