By Ben Lucarelli, Mayor of Fair Haven
The announcement by the NJDEP that 553 acres of the Navesink River were being removed from the shell fish harvestable area triggered a conversation between myself and Brian Rice of the Fair Haven Environmental Commission. A tremendous amount has been accomplished in a very short period.
The Navesink River Municipal Committee was re-constituted to act as the policy body and Clean Ocean Action took the lead in communicating and coordinating resources to address the issue. The result has been a regional effort to “find & fix” the deficiencies that are affecting our water quality throughout the Two River Region. This initiative has gained national recognition, due to the efforts of COA.
The sampling and analyses of the data is beginning to allow us to pinpoint the deficiencies in our infrastructure that we can then seek to repair with grant funding. Infrastructure aside, the other main source of pollution could prove the most difficult of all to correct that of human behavior, such as curbing your dog and properly disposing of the waste. Also it is vital for all of us to be mindful of our close proximity to the watershed that feed into the River system and that our behavior is the key to retarding the pollution flow and allowing the river system to heal itself.
