Rally for the Navesink
A Grassroots
Find-it – Fix it
No Blame Game
Collaboration
USEPA – NJDEP Citizen Science Forum
Oct 23, 2018
Coordinated by Clean Ocean Action
2016 Shellfish Downgrade
First step –Chronicling the Navesink fecal pollution
Rally for the Navesink
Two Goals:
1) Restore condemned area in record time 2) Break the cycle of pollution and make it stick
Innovative Method: A grassroots no-blame game, find it, fix it approach engaging the entire community
Rally for the Navesink Restore by 2020!
Rally for the Navesink AllianceCoordinated by Clean Ocean Action (COA)
American Littoral Society Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions
Bayshore Anglers Association Bayshore Regional Watershed Council
Conserve Claypit Creek Hartshorne Woods Association
Monmouth Boat ClubMonmouth Conservation Foundation
Navesink Business Group Navesink Maritime Heritage Association and River Scouts
Navesink Shrewsbury River Fishing ClubNavesink River Rowing Club Clearwater of New Jersey
NY/NJ BaykeeperOceanport Water Watch
Oceanic Free Library Pirates Care
Recreational Fishing Alliance Red Bank Business Alliance
River Rats Riverview Medical Center
Rumson Garden Club Shrewsbury Sailing & Yacht Club
Sierra Club-Shore Group Surfrider-Jersey Shore Chapter
Navesink River Municipalities Committee
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Tinton Falls
Sustainability-
Break
Pollution Cycle
Educate – Watershed Mindfulness
Plan OverviewFour essential parallel tracks
Find it – Fix it 565 acresNavesinkRestored
Completed
Find it/Fix it:Remove Sources
Source Tracking• Canines• Citizens• Post data
Identify sources
Reduce sources
Reduce run-off
Educate: Watershed Mindfulness
“Know Your Water Address”
K-12 programs e.g. Soak It Up
Citizen actions
Municipal actions
Coordinate:Implement Rally
Alliance
Leverage
Chart of Actions
Sustainability
Create new paradigm to help other waterways
2016 2017 - 2019
Coordinate – Implement Rally
DocumentProblem/
Launch campaign
Goal 2020
………Underway…….
Source Track Down
TEAM WORK and COLLABORATION
Tinton Falls
Ship and sniff monitoring
Canine Field Source Tracking for Human Fecal Contamination
Partnership – Environmental Canine Services
Navesink Ambient Microbial Source Track Down
Track Down!
• GOAL : Ambient Bacteria Source Trackdownin the Navesink watershed
• Collaboration – NJ DEP, COA, NRMC, Towns, DPW, Alliance – and YOU
• Grassroots Citizen Monitoring
• Quality Control – QAPP, Training, Field Audit
Status Update
• First 52 weeks wrapped up – June 06, 2018
• Year Two – ongoing - #19 events of proposed 52 completed
• Additional training by DEP– June 2018
• Locations eliminated from year 2 monitoring–Sites 82, 55, 31 (FH, MT, RB-TF)
• Locations added for year 2 monitoring – Sites 120, 121, 122, 123 (Rumson, RB)
• IDEXX – EPA Region 2 Citizen Science Equipment Loan Program
Microbial Source Track-down: Expanding the Toolbox
Status Update
• COA-EPA-DEP IDEXX Study – ongoing – 7 completed
• Runs until Dec 2018
• Ongoing Navesink monitoring as an example of citizen science @ EPA-NJDEP Citizen Science Forum (October, 2018)
Sampling Logistics
• Working seamlessly
• 3-month calendar
• Count Basie Park –staging location
• New volunteers
• Additional sampling for IDEXX every alternate Wednesday
Quick notes - Criteria
• Navesink is not a “bathing beach” – Enterococcus criteria will not “officially” apply…However…
• Enterococcus standard for benchmarking data –104 cfu/100 ml for single sample (std used in bathing beaches) – used as reference
• NOTE: Standards are based on in-river monitoring, but Navesink study includes upstream locations, which contribute to river pollution
Quick notes - Criteria
• Shellfish harvesting criteria – fecal coliforms
• Standard for “restricted” classification of growing areas affected by non point sources + those used as shell stock source for depuration – fecal coliform geometric mean shall not exceed 88 per 100 ml
• NOTE: Standards are based on in-river monitoring, but Navesink study includes upstream locations, which contribute to river pollution. GM used only as reference here.
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
120.00%
%locations exceeding "104" (entero) during weekly sampling
%locations exceeding
58 weeks of data, 1125 samples, 669 samples exceeded “104”; observed max during each event ranged from 700 to 135,000 cfu/ml
What do we know
• Grassroots, no Blame game, Find it, Fix it
– Working in Partnerships and Collaboration is KEY to Success!
• Local, state, federal, grassroots
• Public Outreach and Engagement is essential for “watershed mindfulness”
– From the “small to the tall”
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats!
www.cleanoceanaction.org
www.facebook.com/RallyfortheNavesink