New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 7 - COASTAL PERMIT PROGRAM RULES › Subchapter 16 - RESOURCE RULES › Section 7:7-16.3 - Water quality

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) As
				required by Section 307(f) of the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act,
				16 U.S.C. §§
										1451 et seq., Federal, State, and local water
				quality requirements established under the Federal Clean Water Act,
				33 U.S.C.
				§§
										1251 et seq., shall be the water
				resource standards of the coastal management program. These requirements
				include not only the minimum requirements imposed under the Clean Water Act but
				also the additional requirements adopted by states, localities, and interstate
				agencies pursuant to Section 510 of the Clean Water Act and such statutes as
				the New Jersey Water Pollution Control Act,
				58:10A-1 et seq. In the Delaware
				River Basin, the requirements include the prevailing "Basin Regulations-Water
				Quality" adopted by the Delaware River Basin Commission as part of its
				Comprehensive Plan. In the waters under the jurisdiction of the Interstate
				Environmental Commission in the New Jersey-New York metropolitan area, the
				requirements include the Interstate Environmental Commission's Water Quality
				Regulations. Department rules related to water pollution control and applicable
				throughout the entire coastal zone include, for example, the Surface Water
				Quality Standards ( N.J.A.C. 7:9B), the Ground Water Quality Standards (
				N.J.A.C. 7:9C), and the New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System rules
				( N.J.A.C. 7:14A).
(b) Coastal
				development which would violate the Federal Clean Water Act, or State laws,
				rules and regulations enacted or promulgated pursuant thereto, is prohibited.
				In accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:15 concerning the Water Quality Management
				Planning and Implementation process, coastal development that is inconsistent
				with an approved Water Quality Management (208) Plan under the New Jersey Water
				Quality Planning Act,
				58:11A-1 et seq., is
				prohibited.
(c) Rationale: Most of
				the natural, commercial, recreational, industrial, and aesthetic resources of
				the coastal zone affect or are affected by surface and groundwater quality.
				Specific coastal zone water quality problems include pollution by nutrients,
				pathogenic organisms, toxic and hazardous wastes, thermal discharges, suspended
				sediments, oxygen demanding wastes, and saline intrusion into freshwater
				resources. These pollutants can lower water quality sufficiently to prevent
				desired uses. Pursuant to the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act, Section
				307(f), requirements established by a state or local government pursuant to the
				Federal Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act "shall be incorporated" into any
				program developed pursuant to the CZMA. This rule incorporates State water
				quality requirements by making clear that development which would violate New
				Jersey's water quality related statutes and regulations adopted pursuant to the
				Federal Clean Water Act is not allowed.