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Riverkeeper, United Water
Host Stormwater Seminar By Hugh M. Carola After the NJ Department of Environmental Protection passed a
series of new pollution rules, Hackensack Riverkeeper began hosting seminars to
educate planners, engineers and municipal officials. On March 25, the third seminar in the Storm Water series took place at the United Water Treatment Facility in Haworth. Created specifically for municipalities in northern Bergen County whose communities host the drinking water resources of the Ramapo River, Mahwah River, Saddle River, Pascack Brook and Hackensack River, this most recent seminar was attended by nearly 40 officials. “We felt it was important to reach out in a special way to the towns whose waterways supply more than one million people with their drinking water,” said Hackensack Riverkeeper Captain Bill Sheehan. Speakers included Captain Bill, United Water Vice President and Park Ridge councilman Richard Henning and George Hawkins (picture at right), an environmental attorney and executive director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association. NJDEP is planning a series of 24 stormwater seminars, one in each county and three regional seminars. |
These Phase Two Storm Water Regulations came into effect on Jan.
8 and are the most comprehensive in the nation at dealing with the problem of
polluted runoff (non-point source pollution). They mandate that every
municipality in the state develop a stormwater management plan and educate
their residents about non-point source pollution prevention.