The second pathogen monitoring session of the month occurred on Thursday, July 10. Every Thursday during the summer, from May to October, the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership and Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Middlesex County run a volunteer-based monitoring program along the Raritan River. We collect water quality samples at six non-bathing public access beach sites, provide our samples to the Interstate Environmental Commission for analysis in their laboratory, and report the results to the public on Friday afternoons. Our mission is to share this data with the community and partners to ensure the safe use of the Raritan river for all.
Our lab results for water quality samples taken on Thursday, July 10, 2025 show Enterococcus bacteria levels exceeding the EPA federal water quality standard of 104 cfu/100mL at THREE (3) of our monitoring sites this week. Problem sites are indicated by red frowns on the map and chart which includes: Riverside Park (Piscataway), Rutgers Boathouse (New Brunswick), and 2nd Street Park (Perth Amboy). Green smiles on the chart and map indicate the sites with bacteria levels safe for recreation, and include the following: Raritan Bay Waterfront Park (South Amboy), Ken Buchanan Waterfront Park (Sayreville),and Edison Boat Launch (Edison Township).
Pathogens/Enterococci levels are used as indicators of the possible presence of disease-causing bacteria in recreational waters. Such pathogens may pose health risks to people coming in primary contact with the water (touching) through recreational activities like fishing, kayaking or swimming in a water body. Possible sources of bacteria include Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), improperly functioning wastewater treatment plants, stormwater runoff, leaking septic systems, animal carcasses, and runoff from manure storage areas.
Our goal in reporting these results is to give residents a better understanding of the potential health risks related to primary contact during water-based recreation. If you are planning on recreating on the Raritan this Fourth of July weekend, make sure to stay safe and wash up after any activities!
Trash and an oily, translucent scum float on the water in New Brunswick. Photo credit: Ashley Fritz.
An overcast day at Edison Boat Basin fills the water with reflected clouds. Photo credit: Vanishri Murali.
A great egret (Ardea alba) swoops over the Raritan River. Photo credit: Vanishri Murali.
The cloudy sky is reminiscent of the smoke that once pumped out of Sayreville’s now-decommissioned coal-burning power plant (pictured), and Sayre and Fisher Brick Company kilns (long gone). Photo credit: Vanishri Murali.
Gavin, a young outdoor enthusiast from Maryland, met up with the LRWP in South Amboy and volunteered to help Dr. John use the sonde. Photo credit: Vanishri Murali.
Another week completed! The team in South Amboy. Photo credit: Vanishri Murali.
The LRWP and SEWA volunteers went out to the litter trap in the Green Brook on Saturday, June 28th, 2025, to conduct a litter tally. The water was low, with minimal trash flows. Huge thanks to our SEWA International Central Jersey youth partners! Thanks to their efforts, we’ll have much better data on how the litter trap keeps our watershed clean. Learn more about the litter trap initiative here. And learn more about the LRWP’s litter tally project with SEWA here. Below, you’ll find Sewa’s Aasmi Bora describing the litter we picked up, as well as her initial thoughts on why so much litter gets buried in sediment before it reaches the trap.
Guest post by Aasmi Bora
The litter trap is a device that is designed to collect trash and debris before it can end up in larger bodies of water, like the Raritan River. Its main structure is a chute-like mechanism, shown in the picture below, supported by two buoyant pipes (or booms) which keep it afloat.
How effective is our litter trap? To evaluate the effectiveness of the Litter Trap, we conducted an analysis of the waste found both inside and outside the device.
Here’s what we found inside the Litter Trap:
4 small liquor bottles
2 markers
1 small plastic ball
1 basketball
1 fishing bobber
8 plastic bottles
1 plastic eye dropper
3 aluminum cans
1 unopened cigar packet
1 piece of plastic
A large amount of styrofoam (mostly too small to
pick out individually)
In comparison, this is what we found outside of the Litter Trap:
1 toy train
1 teddy bear
7 aluminum cans
2 plastic bottles
2 plastic wrappers
1 shoe sole
3 pieces of glass
1 piece of fabric
1 shoe sole
1 plastic utensil
1 base of gumball dispenser
2 plastic bags
2 tires
Many more pieces of plastic
More styrofoam
Seat cushion
Why might the Litter Trap be capturing less trash than what is found outside of it?
We began to explore further up the stream to identify possible causes. We noticed how most of the debris was getting caught on tree branches as well as being embedded in the stream bed. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that the shallowness of the stream could be the main culprit.
During our exploration of the Green Brook, we found a section of the stream with a stronger current than where our litter trap currently rests. We predict that if the litter trap were repositioned in faster current then we would see a better accumulation of debris in the litter trap. As we continue to explore the functions of Litter Trap we aim to find solutions to enhance the design and effectiveness of the device.
This summer, the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership will partner with the Central Jersey chapter of Sewa International to train the next generation of citizen scientists! The collaboration will focus on the Green Brook litter trap, a project funded through the ‘damages’ assessment of the Cornell Dubilier Electronics site in Plainfield. Together with a handful of science-minded high school students, we will be assessing our toolkit for counting the litter trap’s collections, imagining new ways of protecting our streams, and investigating the point-source of various pollutants in the Green Brook. In a few days, our Sewa volunteers will begin posting their findings.
Ashwin, Nilesh, and Aasmi (L to R) explore the Green Brook for the first time.
This project is part of the Cornell-Dubilier Electronics Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan (NRDAR Plan), and our partners include Dunellen, Green Brook, and the Cornell Dubilier Trustees (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration).
