Water

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Water

Within Bergen County there are 22 public community water systems serving the same people year-round (e.g., in homes or businesses). Additionally, there are 17 non-transient non-community water systems serving the same people, but not year-round (e.g., schools with their own water system) and, 38 transient non-community water systems that do not consistently serve the same people (e.g. rest stops, campgrounds, gas stations).

Surface water provides habitats for aquatic life, food (e.g., fish and shellfish), recreation opportunities (e.g., boating and swimming), resources for industrial uses, and drinking water within Bergen County. The quality of our surface water in rivers, lakes, wetlands and estuaries often depends on activities that take place within the watersheds.

Watersheds are those land areas that catch rain or snow and drain to specific marches, streams, lakes or to ground water. Bergen County is served by the Ramapo River Watershed, the Saddle River Watershed, the Pascack Creek Watershed, the Hackensack River Watershed, the Lower Passaic River Watershed, and the Lower Hudson River Watershed. These areas are designated as Principal Watersheds of New Jersey by the NJDEP. These watersheds fall within three Watershed Management Areas (WMAs). The three WMAs within Bergen County are, WMA-3, WMA-4, and WMA-5.

	Safe Drinking Water The Wellhead Protection Program protects public non-community water sources. Public non-community wells may serve schools, diners, swim clubs and parks. The program received a NJ DEP grant to continue to gather detailed information pertaining to public non-community wells in the year 2001. Additionally, wellhead protection areas are being modified to meet the new NJ DEP standard.
	Water Pollution Many environmental programs are under the umbrella of water pollution prevention. In the Water Pollution Program, illegal discharges into surface water are identified as a result of complains, and corrective actions are taken.
	Watershed Management Area 5 Acknowledging the importance of collaboration, the NJDEP awarded the Department of Health Services $600,000 over a four-year period at the close of 2000 to develop a watershed management plan in conjunction with local partners. The goal of the plan is to improve and protect watershed resources for a million northern New Jersey residents. Local partners include New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, United Water New Jersey, Inc., Fairleigh Dickinson University, Rutgers University’s Center for Information Management, Integration and Connectivity, and the Hackensack Riverkeeper, Inc. The partners formed a public advisory committee (PAC), a technical advisory committee (TAC), an open space committee (OSC) and an education and outreach committee to develop a management plan to foster improved water quality in Water Management Area 5, which includes most of Bergen County and a portion of Hudson County. WMA5 consists of the Hackensack River, Pascack Brook and Hudson River watersheds. The PAC will emerge from the WMA5 project with a broad consensus on what can reasonably be accomplished to improve water quality. As part of a statewide initiative, the watershed management process is a great step forward in efforts to protect and restore water resources. Accomplishments include the following: The PAC developed and passed by-laws. The TAC reviewed and prioritized projects to be submitted for 319(h) funding. The OSC developed an open space prioritization. The TAC started collecting data pertaining to the watershed.
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