Protect Our Drinking Water with Better Planning

The League of Women Voters of Monmouth County urges everyone who cares about the quality of our drinking water to attend the County Commissioners meeting on December 14, at the Hall of Records, Freehold, at 1 pm.

New Jersey American’s Swimming River Reservoir, with about two-thirds of its watershed in Colts Neck and one-third in Holmdel, supplies water to approximately 300,000 eastern Monmouth County residents. As all streams discharge directly to this reservoir, all land-use decisions in the watershed affect how much and how clean our drinking water is and how much it will cost.

Five planned eastern Monmouth County redevelopment projects will bring thousands of new county residents. One Colts Neck development will add 950 more residents and a package sewage treatment plant. To protect the amount and quality of our water supply, we must protect land use in these critical watersheds, limit imperviousness so streams get clean base-flow, and reduce polluted stormwater carrying sediment to the reservoir.

Our aquifers were seriously overdrawn by the 1980’s and were designated Critical Water Supply Area #1 in New Jersey. Since then, 50 percent of our water must come from streams and reservoirs. Our residents have a role to play by letting the County Commissioners and Planning Board know their concerns. Development must go where it won’t degrade and limit our water supply. We hope you can come and voice your concerns.