Hunterdon Group Honored for Water Research

By WALTER O'BRIEN
STAFF WRITER

CLINTON TOWNSHIP -- A Hunterdon environmental group has been recognized for its work keeping rivers healthy.

The South Branch Watershed Association (SBWA) has received this year's only Honorable Mention at the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions' (ANJEC) New Jersey Environmental Achievement Awards for its recently released Volunteer Monitoring Program Comprehensive Report.

The program began in 1994 with 10 monitoring sites where volunteers collect baseline water quality data from the South Branch of the Raritan River and its tributaries, referred to as the South Branch Watershed. The accumulated data was analyzed to produce the comprehensive report.

"The comprehensive report will allow us to look at the water-quality trends in the watershed since 1994, give us an idea as to where any sources of impairment may be coming from, and provide guidance as to what steps we should take next for monitoring, restoration and preservation," SBWA program director Nicole Rahman said.

For more information about SBWA's Volunteer Monitoring Program, call Nicole Rahman at (908) 782-0422, Ext. 14. To view the full report, visit www.sbwa.org.