Clean Ocean Action volunteer water testers (aka “citizen scientists) Madeline DePrimo and George Kwiecinski take their regular Wednesday morning water sample from a manhole in Marine Park with the help of Red Bank DPU employee Randy Thorne. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
On the shore of the Navesink River, the Borough of Red Bank is spending millions to transform its crown jewel, Marine Park, into what officials promise will be a greener, more beautiful space.
But just past the bulkhead, in the brackish waters of the estuary itself, things are still pretty crappy. Literally.
After a years-long effort by advocates, scientists and volunteers made encouraging progress in lowering bacteria levels in the late 2010s, pollution linked to human and animal waste has been on the rise again in recent years, scientists said at an update on the effort in Little Silver last week.
A key factor was a pause in water testing and remediation efforts caused by the COVID pandemic. The testing by state scientists, along with a separate testing program by an army of volunteers at 21 Navesink River sites, has been key to finding pollution sources, from horse farms to broken sewer mains that are then addressed.
When work resumed in earnest in 2023 tests found levels of E. coli and Enterococcus bacteria had spiked at testing locations across the watershed. At some spots, the levels were so high that it indicated “raw sewage” had been flowing into the river.
“Because we lost that maintenance, we maybe didn’t catch an increase, and it just happened catastrophically” said Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action.
Dead bunker (Atlantic menhaden) in the Marine Park boat basin last week amid a large die-off of the fish, a DEP scientist said, was likely caused by an algae bloom. (photo by Brian Donohue)
It was a setback for an effort that had been seeing remarkable success.
Clean Ocean Action launched Rally for the Navesink – later expanded to include the Shrewsbury River and renamed Rally for the Two Rivers – in 2016. A year earlier, the state Department of Environmental Protection had downgraded and closed 500 acres of Navesink River shellfish beds west of the Oceanic Bridge due to high pathogen levels. A landmark study by COA identified the sources as human fecal pollution from sources including:
- leaky/damaged sanitary sewer infrastructure,
- improperly managed/failing septic systems
- illicit connections; improper disposal of pet waste from dogs and cats; domestic waste run off from livestock such as horses, cattle, etc.
- Fecal pollution from local wildlife (ie, Birds)
Swarna Muthukrishnan, Clean Ocean Action water quality research director, addresses attendees at the Rally for the Two Rivers update in Little Silver last week. (photo by Brian Donohue)
The Navesink is not approved for – nor tested to determine if – it’s safe for swimming. But the bacteria levels required for shellfish harvesting provide a yardstick – and a goal for the effort to clean it up.
“We want pre-2015, we want to get the water back to at least 2015 if not better,” Zipf said at a Rally for the Two Rivers public update at the Little Silver Women’s Club last week.
The effort, dubbed a “find it, fix it, no blame game,” enlists scientists, volunteers, and local governments to find sources of pollution and fix them.
A horse farm on the Middletown side of the river, where runoff was found to be contaminating creeks that flow into the Navesink, was remediated. Scientists using feces-sniffing “poo patrol” dogs helped locate sanitary sewer leaks that were then fixed by officials in Red Bank and other towns.
By 2018, hope was abounding that the goal of lowering pathogen contamination to levels safe for clamming was within reach. Testing showed bacteria levels in the river were coming down even faster than expected.
Then came the pandemic, with the state shutting down testing at many locations for the better part of a year and in some cases far longer.
When testing fully resumed in 2023, so did the virtual game of whack-a-mole, with sources of pollution being addressed and new ones continually popping up.
In 2023, a sewer line blockage on Mechanic Street in Red Bank caused a spike in levels near a stormwater outflow at Spring Street, said NJ Department of Environmental Protection microbiology and bacteriology specialist Bill Heddendorf. The state worked with the Red Bank municipal officials to fix that, and the levels dropped again. Recent tests show another spike, he said, with the source still undetermined.
In addition, Heddendorf said, teams are trying to find the source of contamination spikes near ClayPit Creek and upstream of Shadow Lake in Middletown.
Marine Park appears to be perhaps the river’s most persistent hot spot.
When testing resumed in July 2023, Heddendorf said, “Right away you see high levels” equated with “literally raw sewage.”
A sewer problem near Red Rock Grille was addressed, he said, and it looked like the problem had been fixed by fall of 2024. In more recent tests, the numbers for Marine Park have spiked again.
“It was looking really good for a while, but it’s back on our radar, trying to figure out what’s going on,” he said.
Heddendorf said he and other DEP scientists are planning a more detailed “storm study” for Marine Park and another problem spot near Fourth Creek in Fair Haven, where levels remain persistently high.
Heddendorf also said the pollution could be a factor behind a recent, more visible sign of water quality problems: a die-off of Atlantic menhaden that has filled the water with dead and dying fish over the past several weeks.
Heddendorf said evidence suggests the fish were killed by low oxygen levels in the water caused by an algae bloom. Algae can thrive on nutrients in pollution. When the algae bloom dies, the bacteria decomposing the algae use up the dissolved oxygen in the water, suffocating the fish.
Clean Ocean Action is hosting a Rally for the Two Rivers Eco-Fest on June 7 at 9 am in Victory Park, Rumson. Click here for information.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
