Rutgers University’s Sustainable Raritan River Initiative has released a second report on the status of watershed health for the Raritan River. The State of the Raritan Report, Volume 2 continues efforts to update key indicators of water quality and watershed health for the Raritan River basin. The health of the Raritan basin was originally assessed in the 2002 Raritan Basin: Portrait of a Watershed as developed by the New Jersey Water Supply Authority and updated in the Sustainable Raritan River Initiative’s 2016 State of the Raritan Report, Volume 1. The objective of those reports, and this one, is to inform watershed management planning and water supply protection needs in the Raritan basin.
This State of the Raritan Report, Volume 2 evaluates eight broad areas encompassing thirteen key indicators that could either impact water quality or watershed health or that influence quality of life in the basin. The eight areas and thirteen key indicators of watershed health assessed in this volume include: canopy cover; known contaminated sites; threatened and endangered species; restoration projects; open space; recreation trails including greenways and boat launches; grey infrastructure including stormwater basins, culverts, outfalls, bridges and dams; and resilience as measured by FEMA flood insurance payouts for recent historic storms in the basin.
Copies of the two State of the Raritan Reports can be accessed here.