Water Quality Assessment of the Upper Passaic River Watershed and the Wanaque Reservoir

The Passaic River and its tributaries are both the primary source of drinking water for much of Northern New Jersey and the receiving waters for the effluent from numerous municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities. The first part of this study (Chapters 2 to 3) describes the available water quality data and examines the current status and temporal and spatial trends in water quality data for the Wanaque Reservoir and four stations in the watershed: (1) Passaic River at Two Bridges, (2) Pompton River at Two Bridges, (3) Passaic River at Little Falls, and (4) Ramapo River at Pompton Lakes. Such assessments were conducted for five water quality constituents (dissolved oxygen, BOD, ammonia, nitrate, and total phosphorus). In Chapter 4, a preliminary loading analysis is developed for the Passaic and Pompton Rivers (at Two Bridges) using point source (DMR) loading data. The STPs loadings were then compared to the calculated loadings in the River for a first-order estimate of the relative contribution of the STPs. The second part of this study is re-verification of the Najarian Associates' model of the Wanaque Reservoir - a model that was developed in 1988 to assess the potential impact of the Wanaque South project on Reservoir water quality (Chapter 5). The study updates the model and analyzes its ability to predict the Reservoir's current water quality status.Prepared for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Watershed Management, Northeast Bureau