What we do on land does not stay on land. The choices we make on what we do on our property can impact the waters nearby as rain and runoff pick-up and move pollutants from their point of origin to our waterways. In a time of climate change when precipitation is highly variable these pollutants are more likely to affect our local and regional water quality.

Join the LRWP for two Teacher Professional Development Workshops, offered in partnership with the New Jersey Climate Change Learning Collaborative and the New Jersey Department of Education.

On both Monday June 23 and Tuesday August 12 we will tour New Brunswick infrastructure and landscape and take a boat trip on the Raritan River to learn more about how we monitor water quality in general and pathogen monitoring more specifically, and about solutions to divert the pollutants from our waterways. These full-day workshops will be followed up with a webinar (August 14th, 4PM EDT) to explore instructional resources related to the Lower Raritan watershed, and water quality monitoring.

by LRWP Monitoring Outreach Coordinator Danielle Bongiovanni, J.M. Meyer, Jocelyn Palomino

Yesterday, Thursday May 22, was the official start-up of our Pathogens Monitoring 2025 Season! The Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership and Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Middlesex County are so grateful to be able to continue the monitoring program into our now SEVENTH year of data-collection and sharing. This volunteer-based program runs from May to October and takes place every Thursday monitoring 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. We are looking forward to sharing our data with the community and our partners to ensure the safe use of the Raritan River for all.

Our lab results for water quality samples taken on Thursday May 22, 2025 show Enterococcus bacteria levels exceeding the EPA federal water quality standard of 104 cfu/100mL at all six of our monitoring sites this week. Problem sites are indicated by red frowns on the map and chart which includes: Riverside Park (Piscataway), Rutgers Boat House (New Brunswick), Edison Boat Basin (Edison), Ken Buchanan Waterfront Park (Sayreville), South Amboy Waterfront Park (South Amboy), and 2nd Street Park (Perth Amboy). Green smiles on the chart and map indicate the sites with bacteria levels safe for recreation, and do not include any sites this week.

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 Memorial Day weekend, make sure to stay safe and wash up after any activities!

This pipe drains into the Raritan River directly from the Route 18 highway at Boyd Park. Hence, the oil sheen is essentially direct wash off from vehicles traveling on 18 parallel to the Raritan River.
Photo credit: Art Allgauer.

John and Ashley drop the YSI sonde into the Raritan River at the Edison Boat Basin while Sofi collects a water sample. Photo credit: Danielle Bongiovanni.

Essay and photos by Joe Mish

At sixty strokes a minute, the paddle leaves a linear series of isolated, expanding ripples, lingering on the water’s surface, appearing like the tracks of a rabbit running in the snow. Photo by Bill Haduch

The low concrete dam spanned the shallow river to create a constant water supply for a long gone 19th century grist mill. Above the dam a placid lake was formed, its surface appeared static and reflective to disguise the current as the determined river flowed from highlands to sea level. The dam caused the river to pause its downstream journey as it pondered its escape from the impoundment. It first attempted to expand its breadth to go around the obstacle. Failing that, the river began to overflow the dam.  The water flowing over the dam was now energized by its escape, and enlivened by the infusion of oxygen from its precipitous fall. The resulting white water was a sign of turbulence and the aeration reduces the density of the water making objects less buoyant.  As the water fell upon itself, the weight of the falling water created a void, filled in by downstream water flowing upstream, to form a horizontal current, spinning parallel the length of the dam, known as a hydraulic.

Dam pictured has claimed lives, though it looks harmless at low water levels.

The spinning action of the hydraulic increased the downstream current’s speed. Over time, debris and sediment accumulated below the dam to force the water into one main channel to create a venturi effect which further accelerates current speed.

Warning sign above the impounded water, and a note left on my truck warning of the danger dams present to paddlers.

A couple hundred yards below the dam, the flowing water surrenders its infused energy to rely on the gradient of the river bed to continue its seaward journey.

On a bright sunny day, after a warm June rain, I decided to accompany the river on its infinite downstream journey. I placed my black carbon fiber canoe a few feet from the sandy shore in about a foot of calm water before I climbed aboard. As the river bed naturally narrowed from the wide funnel shaped expanse created by the dam, accumulated sediment and debris blocked and shifted the main flow to the far shore.   

When I launch at this location, I always do an upstream ferry to experience the free energy the river supplies. A ferry will carry you across a river’s current with hardly any effort. No need to aim your boat far upstream of your intended landing while furiously fighting the current. I eased the boat into the current, bow upstream, to position it parallel to the flowing water, making it essentially invisible to the current. It is possible to sit motionless in fast water, as long as the boat remains perfectly aligned with the flow.  When performing an upstream ferry, point the bow in the direction you want to go, the angle depends on the speed of the current. It feels like magic as you entice the river’s energy to reveal itself and provide a counter intuitive assist to effortlessly cross a strong current.

Water level determines the downstream course. At low levels, winding channels in the river bed own the navigable water. This day the higher water left many options.

The sleek black canoe appeared as a dark shadow on the river bed, its passage as silent as its shadow, neither left a trail or a trace.

Where the river makes a bend, the water downstream, pools, as the flow crashes headlong into the river bank. Below each significant bend, a shoal will be formed with channels generally situated tight along either shore.

Immediately after one sharp bend, marked by a high red shale cliff, a navigable narrow passage runs very tight along the right steep shale bank, shrouded by overhanging branches. At lower water levels this channel is like running a gauntlet, though preferable to dragging the boat over the protruding shoal.

When the river passes under one old steel truss bridge, the river course is such that the main current bounces off the angled bank, causing an eddy of circulating water to form on both shores. An eddy shaves flowing water from the main course and the bow of a boat can suddenly be held still by the eddy and simultaneously the stern is swept downstream to overturn the canoe. Eddy turns are a basic maneuver a paddler should master, especially in high water where an eddy is not normally formed at lower levels. Get caught by surprise in an eddy in high water or off season will make you a believer in reading a river. Find a place where eddies form at lower water levels and learn the basics of fluid dynamics and effective paddle strokes and downstream braces.

On any given day the river can deliver a surprise that was not there the day before. Specifically, strainers, treetops which fall across the river blocking passage are especially dangerous. This is where a ferry can come in handy when you round a bend and see it blocked by a fallen tree. Tangled in branches with a water filled boat or current pressing you against an immovable object is a death sentence. Water weighs a pound a pint, and a boat full of water is beyond the strength of the most fit paddler to lift.

This is where a draw comes in handy. Kept the boat upright with a desperation draw.NEVER stop paddling, keep your paddle in the water!

Obstacles avoided; a stretch of open water begs the black canoe to be pushed to the limit of its design. The paddlers fitness and form are the rate limiting factors to speed the canoe’s shadow along the light tan river bottom.  At sixty strokes a minute, the paddle leaves a linear series of isolated, expanding ripples, lingering on the water’s surface, appearing like the tracks of a rabbit running in the snow. 

The black canoe is the cursor I used to help read the river’s mood and understand its personality. It was a good read with many twists and turns, the imagery impressive and maybe the best never ending story ever told.  

Author Joe Mish has been running wild in New Jersey since childhood when he found ways to escape his mother’s watchful eyes. He continues to trek the swamps, rivers and thickets seeking to share, with the residents and visitors, all of the state’s natural beauty hidden within full view. To read more of his writing and view more of his gorgeous photographs visit Winter Bear Rising, his wordpress blog. Joe’s series “Nature on the Raritan, Hidden in Plain View” runs monthly as part of the LRWP “Voices of the Watershed” series. Writing and photos used with permission from the author.