There
are three National Estuary Programs in New Jersey:
Barnegat Bay Estuary Program, Delaware Estuary
Program and New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program.
The National Estuary Program was established by
Congress in 1987 to improve the quality of estuaries
of national importance. The Clean
Water Act Section 320 directs the US Environmental
Protection Agency to develop plans for attaining
or maintaining water quality in an estuary. This
includes protection of public water supplies and
the protection and propagation of a balanced, indigenous
population of shellfish, fish, and wildlife, and
allows recreational activities, in and on water,
requires that control of point and nonpoint sources
of pollution to supplement existing controls of
pollution. Each program establishes a Comprehensive
Conservation and Management Plan to meet the
goals of Section 320.
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