Impaired Waters and TMDLs

Surface Water Quality Standards
The Federal Clean Water Act requires that states maintain surface water quality in high quality waters and restore water quality in impaired waters. Surface Water Quality Standards (SWQS) have been developed by the NJDEP (and DRBC for the Delaware river) to accomplish this goal. These standards establish "designated uses" to be achieved for surface water bodies and specify the water quality criteria necessary to achieve these uses. Designated uses established by the NJDEP for New Jersey waterbodies include potable water supply (drinking water use), propagation of fish and wildlife (aquatic life use), recreation in and on the water (primary and secondary contact), agricultural and industrial supplies, and navigation. The NJDEP has established stream classifications and antidegradation designations for all of the state's surface waterbodies. New Jersey's Water Quality and Monitoring Standards homepage can be found at www.state.nj.us/dep/wmm/. The Surface Water Quality Standards can be found in N.J.A.C. 7:9B at www.state.nj.us/dep/wmm/sgwqt/swqsdocs.html and www.state.nj.us/dep/wmm/sgwqt/sgwqt.html.

In addition, because the Delaware River is an interstate water body, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has established interstate zones, designated uses for each zone, and water quality standards to achieve the designated uses along the entire length of the river. Gloucester County adjoins the very lowest end of Zone 3, Zone 4 and the upper most portion of Zone 5. The DRBC’s 2004 Delaware River and Bay Integrated List Water Quality Assessment Report, which contains the water quality standards for each zone (see Section 2.2), and the results of their 2004 Delaware River and Bay Water Quality Assessment, can be found at www.state.nj.us/drbc/04IntegratedList/index.htm .

In Gloucester County, the quality of shallow groundwater is also important to surface water quality, because this groundwater recharges deeper aquifers and provides baseflow to local streams and wetlands. The NJDEP has established groundwater classifications based on designated uses and groundwater quality standards (GWQS) with criteria. The groundwater quality standards can be found at www.state.nj.us/dep/wmm/sgwqt/sgwqt.html. Tables containing (specific, interim specific and interim generic) groundwater quality criteria can be found thru the following links: www.state.nj.us/dep/wmm/sgwqt/gwqs_table1.html and www.state.nj.us/dep/wmm/sgwqt/is_text.html.

Impaired Waters
States are required to prepare and submit to the USEPA a report that identifies waters that do not meet or are not expected to meet surface water quality standards (SWQS). This report is commonly referred to as the 303(d) list. In accordance with Section 305(b) of the CWA, the States are also required biennially to prepare and submit to the USEPA a report addressing the overall water quality of the State’s waters. This report is commonly referred to as the 305(b) Report or the Water Quality Inventory Report. Those waterbodies, which are listed on the 303(d) list, are referred to as “water quality limited” waterbodies and a total maximum daily load (TMDL) must be developed for each individual pollutant in these impaired waterbodies.

In November 2001, the USEPA issued guidance that encouraged states to integrate 305(b) Report and the 303(d) List into one report. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) chose to develop an Integrated Report for New Jersey starting in 2002. The 2004 Integrated List of Waterbodies combines these two assessments and assigns waterbodies to one of five sublists. Sublists 1 through 4 include waterbodies that are generally unimpaired. Sublist 5 of the 2004 Report supercedes Sublist 5 of the 2002 Integrated List and the new sublist presents all water quality limited waters and includes waters for which TMDL development is occurring or will occur within two years. The Sublists of waterbodies in New Jersey are categorized as follows.

• Sublist 1 - are water bodies that are attaining the water quality standards and no use is threatened.
• Sublist 2 - are water bodies that are attaining some of the designated uses; no use is threatened; and insufficient or no data and information is available to determine if the remaining uses are attained or threatened.
• Sublist 3 - are water bodies where there is insufficient or no data and information to determine if any designated use is attained.
• Sublist 4 - are waterbodies that are impaired or threatened for one or more designated uses but do not require the development of a TMDL for the reasons described below.
• Sublist 4A - TMDL has been completed.
• Sublist 4B - Other pollution control requirements are reasonably expected to result in the attainment of the water quality standard in the near future.
• Sublist 4C - Impairment is not caused by a pollutant.
• Sublist 5 - The water quality standard is not attained. The waterway is impaired or threatened for one or more designated uses by a pollutant(s) and requires a TMDL.

The link to the most recent 2004 NJDEP Integrated Water Quality and Assessment Report is: www.state.nj.us/dep/wmm/sgwqt/wat/integratedlist/integratedlist2004.html

For the purposes of evaluating surface water quality in Gloucester County, the Integrated Lists (Sublists 1-5) were abridged and sorted to include locations within the County.

Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)
TMDLs are required, under Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act, for waterbodies that cannot meet surface water quality standards after the implementation of "technology-based effluent limitations. TMDLs may also be established to help maintain or improve water quality in waters that are not impaired. Based on the 2002 and 2004 integrated list, the NJDEP entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with USEPA that sets out a schedule for completion of TMDLs.

A TMDL allocates the load capacity to point sources in the form of wasteload allocations (WLAs) and to nonpoint sources in the form of load allocations (LAs), and may also identify reserve capacity and a margin of safety. WLAs result in Water Quality Based Effluent Limits for point source Wastewater Treatment Plants and requirements based on Best Management Practices (BMPs) for regulated stormwater point sources, such as Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). Because nonpoint source pollution does not come from discrete sources, LAs generally identify broad categories of nonpoint sources that contribute to the parameters of concern. The LA then includes specific load reduction measures, through Best Management Practices (BMPs), that may include local ordinances for stormwater management and nonpoint source pollution control, headwaters protection practices, or other mechanisms for addressing the parameters of concern.

A separate TMDL calculation must be prepared for each pollutant listed for each impaired stream segment or lake. A TMDL is considered "proposed" when the NJDEP publishes the TMDL Report as a proposed Water Quality Management Plan Amendment in the New Jersey Register (NJR) for public review and comment. A TMDL is considered "established" when the NJDEP finalizes the TMDL Report and formally submits it to EPA Region 2 for a thirty-day review and approval. The TMDL is considered "approved" when the NJDEP-established TMDL is approved by EPA Region 2. The TMDL is considered "adopted" when the EPA-approved TMDL is adopted by the NJDEP as a water quality management plan amendment and the adoption notice is published in the NJR. The link to New Jersey�s TMDLs and their status is: www.nj.gov/dep/watershedmgt/tmdl.htm#intro

Gloucester County's Impaired Waters
The NJDEP 2004 Integrated Report contains an abridged list of Impaired Waterbodies in Gloucester County.

There are about 27 different waterbodies within Gloucester County that are considered impaired for their designated use, because they do not meet their respective water quality standards for one or more pollutant parameters. The impaired parameters include Phosphorus, Mercury, Copper, Silver, PCBs, Dioxin, Benthic Macroinvertebrates, pH, Fecal Coliform, Total Coliform, and Total Suspended Solids. The NJDEP has prepared or will prepare TMDLs for each water body and impaired parameter.

Gloucester County's TMDLs
The NJDEP has proposed five sets of TMDLs that address impaired waterbodies in Gloucester County. The full text of these proposals can be found and downloaded at www.nj.gov/dep/watershedmgt/tmdl.htm#intro. Three of the five sets of TMDLS were proposed by the NJDEP in April 2003 and were based on the 2002 Integrated Report. These TMDLs were approved in September 2003 but have not yet been adopted. Two of the five sets of TMDLs were proposed by the NJDEP in May and July 2005 and are not yet established.

Gloucester County TMDL proposals

Gloucester County Impaired Waters

Map of proposed Gloucester County TMDLs

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