BARNEGAT — Ocean County communities will be eligible for grants and low-interest loans to upgrade stormwater basins under legislation Gov. Chris Christie signed today to improve the state’s water quality. The three bills with bipartisan sponsors provide $400 million to the state’s Environmental Infrastructure Trust Fund for projects to clean up waterways used for fishing and swimming. They also...
A biplane heads east over Barnegat Bay towards the Atlantic Ocean in this file photo. Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation today clearing the way for clean water projects in New Jersey.BARNEGAT — Ocean County communities will be eligible for grants and low-interest loans to upgrade stormwater basins under legislation Gov. Chris Christie signed today to improve the state’s water quality.
The three bills with bipartisan sponsors provide $400 million to the state’s Environmental Infrastructure Trust Fund for projects to clean up waterways used for fishing and swimming. They also earmark another $250 million to that for the cleanup of water used for drinking.
Because $16 million of the $400 million allocation is designated for 25 storm water projects affecting Barnegat Bay, Christie used Barnegat’s municipal dock on the bay as the backdrop for his bill-signing ceremony where he touted his administration’s efforts to clean up that waterway.
"The legislation we signed today supports my commitment for the long-term restoration of the bay and the overall environmental health of this gem of New Jersey,’’ he said.
Over the past five decades, overdevelopment and pollution from nutrients in fertilizers have choked off the growth of native species in the bay and encouraged the rapid growth of invasive species such as jellyfish. The overload of nitrogen, which has killed off native aquatic species, is so extensive that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has listed the bay as having the second-worst eutrophication problem in the country behind the Chesapeake Bay.
Scientists have identified lawn fertilizers as the biggest culprit in the nitrogen overload. Repairing antiquated storm water basins, environmentalists have said, would allow the nutrients washed from lawns to remain in the ground instead of being swept directly into tributaries and eventually to the bay.
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