Targeted Watershed Grants Environmental Protection Agency

Watershed Basics

Morning over a Pond

Raritan River Basin The 1,100 square-mile Raritan River Basin, located in north central New Jersey, covers an area that is home to 1.2 million people and 11 sub-watersheds. The Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, working with the New Jersey Water Supply Authority and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, will use its grant to implement a three-pronged strategy to restore the basin. Their results-based initiative focuses on stream restoration and stabilization; riparian area protection; stormwater and non-point source pollution prevention management; implementing new municipal ordinances and promoting road salting controls throughout the region. For additional information, visit the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association.

Upper Susquehanna River The Susquehanna Headwaters are located in New York and Pennsylvania. Using Watershed Initiative funds, the Upper Susquehanna Coalition will continue its efforts to improve water quality by reducing sediment and nutrient loading in the river basin. Monies will be used for developing a database to target sites, implement a wetland restoration program, build county coalitions to support community needs, design a riparian buffer initiative, train local groups in stream restoration using natural stream design, assess possible erosion, conduct ditch restoration demonstrations, and establish a college internship program. For additional information, visit Upper Susquehanna Coalition

and the Chesapeake Bay Program.

Upper Passaic River The Passaic River is an area of significant industrial activity and is one of the most impacted rivers in the state of New Jersey. Approximately two million people live within the 669 square miles of this watershed. Entitled "Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Water Quality Trading Program for the Non-tidal Passaic River Watershed," the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, along with a coalition of municipal wastewater treatment plants and two universities, will use funds from the Targeted Watershed grant to create a trading program focusing on both point-to-point and point-to-non-point source trading. It focuses on creating practical, effective, and economically sound results while providing valuable information that may serve as a model for other water quality trading initiatives. This project will be used to meet a phosphorus-based TMDL for the river. For additional information, visit Rutgers University’s Water Resource Program.

Lake Hopatcong Situated in the heart of the Highlands Region, Lake Hopatcong is one of New Jersey’s premier recreational resources. Covering over 2,600 acres with 38 miles of shoreline, the lake is the State’s largest inland waterbody. The Lake Hoptacong Commission will build upon previously funded 319(h) stormwater activities to implement an approved phosphorus Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL. The proposed projects will address stormwater contributions through the installation of a series of retrofits and best management practices, implement measures that utilize iron oxide to inactivate phosphorus, and demonstrate an alternative wastewater treatment system. The project will focus on quantifying the phosphorus removal efficiency of each restoration measure. For additional information, visit the Lake Hopatcong Commission.

Targeted Watershed Grants Environmental Protection Agency

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