During Spring Semester, 2019, Jenny Schneider, a candidate for the Rutgers Public History Program Certificate (School of Arts and Sciences, Department of History), developed a dynamic historic timeline of major events and happenings around the Raritan region. It is a project we hope to continue to develop in the coming semesters. View the timeline here. […]
history, SAS, Schneider, timeline
The Raritan River receives wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, stormwater runoff, combined sewer overflow (CSO), and groundwater infiltration from a variety of sites contaminated with organohalide pollutants. Organohalides are known or suspected carcinogens and some bioaccumulate and enter the food chain, leading to human exposure. In New Jersey, organohalides are present as groundwater and sediment […]
bacteria, Fennell, genes, mini-grant, organohalides, sediment
Water-dependent uses along the New Jersey coast rely on access to the water that increasingly threatens to damage their facilities and support infrastructure in the surrounding community. Mal-adaptive planning strategies to enhance resilience could fail to recognize the interrelated systems of benefits and risks that face water-dependent uses, including the spatial constraints that limit the […]
Bloustein, Campo, Flood, mini-grant, resilience
An “Restoring the Manalapan Brook Watershed”, a series of videos produced by the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Middlesex County, examines restoration efforts within the Manalapan Brook watershed. The Manalapan Brook is part of the Lower Raritan watershed management area (WMA09) in central New Jersey. This video series was developed for New Jersey municipalities, residents, and […]
The study of microplastics and their negative effects as water pollutants has led to multiple opportunities for research and partnership. Through the Rutgers Raritan River Consortium minigrant program, Dr. Nicole Fahrenfeld led a study with the Raritan Headwaters Association (RHA) over this past summer. The goal of the study was to better understand microplastic transport […]
The Sustainable Raritan River Initiative (SRRI) produced Volume 1 of the State of the Raritan Report in December 2016 to update key indicators of water quality and watershed health for the Raritan River basin (Lathrop et al. 2016). The indicators in Volume 1 were originally assessed in the Raritan Basin: Portrait of a Watershed as […]
Forest fragmentation is a process by which large forest areas are broken into smaller forest areas. Fragmentation is often a result of human development such as the creation of housing or roads. When fragmentation occurs, forest patches decrease in size. In addition, the amount of forest core decreases and the relative amount of forest edge […]
Students from Dr. Jill Lipoti and Mary Nucci’s environmental studies practicum formed a team to investigate microplastics in the Raritan. They studied the technique used by the NY/NJ Baykeeper to gather samples to count microplastics utilizing a Manta sampling net. Noting that the cost of the Manta net could be prohibitive, they invented a simplified […]
This research study aimed to fill in data gaps in river and marsh sediment contamination in the Lower Raritan River. The main tasks of this study were: (1) Measure trace metal and organic contaminant levels in surficial sediments along 20 km of the Lower Raritan River; (2) Visualize the spatial distribution of trace metal and […]
A new study by Dr. Dan Van Abs provides a variety of water demand scenarios for New Jersey’s 584 Public Community Water Supply (PCWS) systems, targeting the year 2040, including, of course, those utilities operating within and dependent upon the Raritan Basin. The study includes an assessment of how changes in population trends could alter […]
