By Sunayana Prabhu
MONMOUTH COUNTY – Whether new to boating or seasoned on the water, county environmental health officials have urged all boaters in the Two River area to follow the state’s marine sanitation regulations to help protect the waterways while enjoying water activities this season.
Officials from the Monmouth County Environmental Health Program, who work with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to keep waterways clean, have requested boaters stop the illegal discharge of tank effluent from boats into the river.
Under the Federal Clean Water Act, enforced by the state, vessels illegally discharging waste in No Discharge Zones (NDZs) can face fines of up to $2,000.
“Our initiative is to keep the waters clean on the Two Rivers,” said Nelson Santiago, Monmouth County’s environmental health coordinator. He insists that boaters use off-shore locations to empty their tanks or the county’s boat-pump out services as an effective measure to support marine sanitation.
Santiago participated in the Rally for the Two Rivers public meeting hosted by Clean Ocean Action last month to remind boaters of Greener Blue, the county’s no-cost boat pump-out program.
Both the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers are state-designated NDZs, yet state and community scientists have reported elevated fecal coliform contamination in the water samples, triggering fish die-offs and environmental health concerns.
The NJDEP recently reported an annual resurgence of bacterial contamination linked to human and animal waste in the Navesink River during the warmer months of June through September.
While aging sewage infrastructure and climate change are factors in the bacterial spikes, a significant portion is attributed to improper waste disposal in the water by the public, both on and off the shore, which compromises marine health.
To combat one of the more controllable sources – boating waste –Santiago explained the use of Greener Blue to protect water quality. Launched in 2020, the Greener Blue boat is a 23-foot vessel that collects waste from recreational boats at no cost to users. The initiative builds on the Royal Flush program that served the region from 2001 to 2017. Combined, the two programs have serviced more than 23,000 boats throughout the Navesink, Shrewsbury and up to the Atlantic Highlands Marina on the Raritan Bay.
Santiago noted that he has overseen the removal of nearly 750,000 gallons of boat sewage from local waterways over the past 25 years.
“Can’t wait till we hit that million mark,” Santiago said.
The vessel operates seasonally, typically from Memorial Day through September, but faces ongoing financial hurdles. The boat continues to be owned and maintained by the Monmouth County Health Department and operated by the NY/NJ Baykeeper organization through a cooperative agreement.
According to Santiago, annual operating costs range from $10,000 to $23,000, and the current boat, purchased in 2020, cost roughly $121,000. “We’re lucky our boat is new,” Santiago said, estimating it will remain in service for another eight years.
He explained that pump-out boats are equipped with tanks and vacuum systems that transfer waste to onshore facilities for proper disposal, preventing illegal discharges into waterways. “We can pull up to these boats to allow them to give us their waste, and it’s a free service that the county provides,” Santiago said. With the assistance of the captain of Greener Blue, waste is pumped from a recreational boat into the holding tank of the pump-out boat. After the pump out is complete, the Greener Blue captain transports and disposes of the waste to a fixed unit on a dock or a shore area and unloads the effluent into a sewer line.
Despite these measures, bacteria levels continue to climb during warmer months. “Throughout the winter, you’re looking at pretty low levels. And then again, in the summertime, it’s elevated,” said Bill Heddendorf, an NJDEP official from the Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring program, during the Rally of the Two Rivers meeting. He explained that fecal coliform bacteria thrive in heat, surviving longer and reproducing more rapidly.
Boaters can contact the Greener Blue by radio on VHF Channel 9 or by cell at 732-761-4997 on days the boat is operating. Santiago also listed several pump-out stations available where boaters can empty their holding tanks along the shores of the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers. The pump-out stations along the Navesink are at Barnacle Bill’s marina, Irwin Marina, Fair Haven Yacht Works, Oceanic Marina and the Red Bank Municipal Marina. Locations along the Shrewsbury River include Atlantis Yacht Club, Navesink Marina, Oceanport Landing, Surfside Marina, Carriage House Marina, Channel Club Marina and Kelly’s Landing.
For the most current information, visit visitmonmouth.com/health.
The article originally appeared in the May 22 – 28, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
