Coastal Services Center

As the number of recreational users of our nation's beaches continues to increase, there is always the risk that swimmers and others could become sick from contaminated coastal waters. A cooperative monitoring program in New Jersey is helping ensure the health and safety of beachgoers in that state.

"Monitoring has helped us determine where the problem areas are. We're designing projects to deal with those problems now. We've educated the public and municipalities about their roles, and we're able to keep the public informed about beach conditions. The public seems happy with that," says Dave Rosenblatt, bureau chief of the New Jersey Division of Watershed Management's Atlantic Coastal Region.

New Jersey's Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program incorporates "measuring water quality and doing aerial surveys to determine if there are any illegal discharges in coastal waters or any visible water quality problems, such as algal blooms or malfunctioning sewer lines or pumping stations," Rosenblatt explains. There are 180 water-quality testing locations that "coincide with recreational beaches" along the state's 127 miles of oceanfront, and another 130 monitoring stations at bay beaches.

"One of the keys to our program," Rosenblatt says, "is the fact that we work with county and local health departments. The local health agencies collect the samples, analyze the samples, and do the sanitary surveys." The state's departments of Environmental Protection, and Health and Senior Services jointly administer and set the policy for the program. He adds, "Of course, policy setting involves local input also."

Every Monday from May to September, water samples are taken and tested for fecal coliform. Rosenblatt says results are received within 24 hours, and "if it comes up high—above 200 colony forming units, or CFU, per 100 milliliters—we will resample immediately." If the second test results are high, the "beach is automatically closed."

In addition to resampling, a "sanitary survey is performed to look for visual signs of contamination or the pollution source." He notes that health officials have the "discretion to close a beach on one sample or no samples, using their professional judgment, but it is mandatory when samples are bad consecutively that the beach be dosed."

In the past 10 years, the state has averaged about 20 beach closings a year, Rosenblatt says. "But we're talking 127 miles of beach with probably every mile of beach having at least 10 to 20 lifeguard stands. If you take the number of recreational beaches available and multiply that by the 100 days of a normal summer season ... you can see how small the number of beach closings really is."

The Department of Environmental Protection has had a monitoring program in place since 1974, Rosenblatt says, but "it wasn't a recreational beach monitoring program." In 1985, malfunctions at sewage treatment plants resulted in "gross contamination of coastal waters in discrete areas." The state legislature charged the Department of Health and Senior Services "with putting a program in place to ensure the health and safety" of swimmers. "Our two agencies got together and decided to modify the existing monitoring program to satisfy their public health and safety needs."

At that time, Rosenblatt says, they "called in local agencies and various water pollution experts" to develop the program. "It wasn't difficult from a scientific perspective. What was interesting about putting the program together was hearing the various positions and various details. It was the public perception of the program that was maybe a little bit more difficult to manage. It was the first time there was to be a mechanism in place to close beaches on a regular basis, and the public had to adjust, as did the tourism industry."

He says the tourism industry was concerned that water quality monitoring and the closing of beaches might drive visitors away. "It was only after we were able to explain what we were doing and why we were doing it that they understood. It was difficult. It's basically a technical issue and you have to be ready to explain it, to communicate it."

Rosenblatt adds, "If you have good water quality, it shouldn't matter how much you monitor. It provides the opportunity to make improvements where you need them. Ultimately, I think one way or another you are going to get bad publicity. Either you take the samples and find out if there are problems and correct them, or you don't take samples to find the problems and risk people getting ill.

"Our tourism along the coast is higher than ever, and I think it's because we have gone to great lengths to correct the problems that became apparent after we started monitoring. People put a lot of trust in a program that works well," he says.

To make water quality improvements, Rosenblatt says his agency "worked hand in hand" with sewage treatment authorities to ensure treatment facilities are efficiently operated. Managers currently are working with municipalities to improve the quality of storm water discharge into coastal waters.

While New Jersey has seen an improvement in its water quality since the program was established, Rosenblatt points out that "aside from half a dozen wide-scale problems with floating debris in the late 80s, and the failure of an older sewage treatment plant that was replaced in 1988, our water quality has been pretty good all along."

He adds, "What monitoring has done is helped us go from good water quality to better water quality. As we continue to address nonpoint source pollution, it will get even better."

For more information about New Jersey's Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program, contact Dave Rosenblatt at (609) 984-6860 or drosenbl@dep.state.nj.us.