Section 319
NONPOINT SOORGE PROGRAM SOGGESS STORY
Agricultural Nonpoint Source Controls Improve Water Quality in
Wallkill River at Hamburg '
Waterbodies Improved
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Nutrien's '" sto.rmwa!er ~"°!! fRrom f oultura' atrheasM
impaired New Jersey s Wallkill River. As a result, the New
Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) added two assessment units of
the Wallkill River to the state's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters
for phosphorus — "Martin's Road to Hamburg" (in 2000) and "Hamburg to Ogdensburg"
(in 2002). To address the problem, local, state and federal partners collaborated to
implement agricultural best management practices (BMPs) such as pasture, integrated
crop and manure management. Water quality improved, prompting NJDEP to remove both
assessment units from the impaired waters list — "Hamburg to Ogdensburg" in 2008 and
"Martin's Road to Hamburg" in 2010.
Problem
The Wallkill River watershed (Figure 1) is in Sussex
County in northwestern New Jersey. The headwa-
ters of the Wallkill River begin at Lake Mohawk in
Sparta Township. The river flows north into New
York, eventually emptying into the Hudson River.
The New Jersey portion of the Wallkill River water-
shed is a scenic area that receives stormwater
runoff from residential, agricultural and steeply
sloped forested areas.
NJDEP has collected monitoring data in the
19.8-mile-long "Martin's Road to Hamburg" and
11.03-mile-long "Hamburg to Ogdensburg" Wallkill
River assessment units for more than 25 years.
Between 1985 and 2000, phosphorus levels in
these assessment units often exceeded the state's
surface water quality standard, which requires that
phosphorus levels not exceed 0.1 milligram per
liter (mg/L). As a result, NJDEP added both assess-
ment units to the state's CWA section 303(d) list of
impaired waters in 2000 and 2002, respectively, for
phosphorus impairment.
Project Highlights
Wallkill River
Legend
Wallkill River
I I Wallkill Hamburg to Ogdensburg
Wallkill Martins Road to Hamburg
HUC14
8 Miles
Figure 1.
The "Martin's
Road to Hamburg"
and "Hamburg
to Ogdensburg"
Wallkill River "
assessment units
are in northwestern
New Jersey.
To address the water quality problem, multiple
watershed stakeholders partnered to develop
the Wallkill River Watershed Management Group
(WRWMG). Members of the WRWMG include
federal, state, county and municipal government
officials; representatives from the agricultural,
lake and educational communities; and interested
watershed residents.
In 2000, WRWMG developed a characterization
and assessment plan for the watershed manage-
ment area that includes the Wallkill, Pochuck
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Figure 2. Some farmers in the watershed installed
manure storage facilities like this one.
Figure 3. Many farmers adopted no-till farming,
which requires specialized equipment.
and Papakating rivers. The initial assessments
indicated that runoff from agricultural areas was
likely negatively affecting water quality in the
Wallkill River watershed. Shortly thereafter, the
WRWMG coordinated with North Jersey Resource
Conservation & Development Council (NJRC&D) and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to begin
restoring the Wallkill River watershed. In 2002, the
NJRC&D received a CWA section 319(h) grant in
partnership with the NRCS to implement agricul-
tural BMPs throughout the Wallkill watershed. From
2003 through 2006, the partners used the grant
funds to establish a project steering committee;
implement agriculture BMPs such as integrated
crop, nutrient and pasture management (Figures 2
and 3); help agricultural landowners transition to
organic farming practices; and provide targeted
technical training programs about agricultural BMPs
for farmers.
Results
Implementing agricultural BMPs and improving
farming practices reduced nutrients in stormwater
runoff, allowing water quality to improve in the
Wallkill River's "Martin's Road to Hamburg" and
"Hamburg to Ogdensburg" assessment units.
NJDEP collected 25 samples annually between
2005 and 2008 in the "Martin's Road to Hamburg"
segment and determined that the segment met
the phosphorus water quality standard of 0.1 mg/L.
Similarly, monitoring data from the "Hamburg to
Ogdensburg" assessment unit indicate that the
river no longer exceeds the phosphorus standard.
In view of the abundant dataset and the rarity of
the observed exceedances, NJDEP determined
that both assessment units (30.83 miles total)
meet the phosphorus water quality standard. As a
result, NJDEP removed them from the state's list
of impaired waters for phosphorus—"Hamburg
to Ogdensburg" in 2008 and "Martin's Road to
Hamburg" in 2010.
Partners and Funding
In 2002, the NJRC&D received a $122,000 CWA
section 319(h) grant to implement agricultural BMPs
throughout the Wallkill watershed. This project
also supported the establishment of a project
steering committee to guide watershed restora-
tion efforts. The committee included participa-
tion from local farmers, the Farm Bureau, NRCS,
Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Northeast Organic
Farming Association, Sussex Conservation District
and Sussex County agricultural organizations.
Approximately $300,000 in state corporate busi-
ness tax funds supported the development of the
WRWMG, which coordinates all watershed work
in the Wallkill River watershed. NJDEP has been
actively involved in watershed management in the
watershed since March 2000 and continues to sup-
port restoration efforts by funding the development
of watershed plans in the Wallkill River's Papakating
and Paulins Kill sub-watersheds.
I
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-12-001Q
July 2012
For additional information contact:
Terri Romagna, Supervisor
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
terri.romagna@dep.state.nj.us • 609-633-3301
David McPartland, Environmental Specialist
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
david.mcpartland@dep.state.nj.us • 609-633-3301
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