ABSTRACT
One of the most important environmental factors that has attracted terrestrial species to the edge of land is the tremendous biological productivity in the "coastal zone" between land and water. The coastal zone from the New York City metropolitan area south along the coast of New Jersey has borne witness to much of the coastal pollution, including oil spills, coastal dumping, and inadequately treated wastewaters. In the New Jersey ACD area, land-use alteration and increased population have caused significant degradation of water quality from an increase in both point source and nonpoint source (NPS) pollutants. While point sources of pollution are primarily the sewage treatment plants, NPS pollutants scoured from the land surface and flushed into coastal waters with each rainfall comprise a largely unmeasured and unmanaged flux of contaminants. In the coastal waters of New Jersey, the primary impact of urban stormwater runoff is not an increase in flooding problems, which directly effects the coastal waters.
