Peter Bell

Nine Element Plan for Cooper River (Wallworth Gage to Evesham Rd.)

Before pollutants can be removed from a body of water, a watershed management plan

must be created. Pollution that might require a watershed management plan include things

such as pesticides, pathogens, metals and overabundance of nutrients. Watershed

management plans are 9 step plans including identification of the sources of a pollutant,

management measures, technical and financial assistance, estimated load reductions and

schedule for the entire plan. The watershed management plan I have created is for Cooper

river, a tributary of the Delaware River, that runs through Camden County, New Jersey. The

pollutant I choose to focus on are PCB’s.

PCB is polychlorinated biphenyl which is an organic chlorine compound. PCB’s were

banned in the 1970’s, but before their ban, they were used heavily in many industries. A major

use of PCBs was insulation of electrical equipment. PCBs were also used for paints, inks,

newsprint, carbonless duplicating paper, electrical insulators, capacitors, electrical appliances

and deep fat-fryers. They were a popular industrial material because it is non-flammable at

high temperatures. Prior to being banned in 1979, large amounts of PCB waste were put into

dumps and landfills where they eventually worked their way into the environment. The other

major source was accidental spills from the facilities that were using PCBs. Once in the

environment, they disperse through land, water and air. In fact, one reason they are so harmful

to the environment is because they can travel long distances through the air and then redeposit
back into soil and water. Despite their ban, they are still present in the environment because

they are persistent and bioaccumulative. “They still persist in runoff from old spills, waste sites,

or leaks from old electrical equipment. As a result of discharges into water that occurred when

PCB manufacture was still legal, these long-lived chemicals still survive in sediments where they

are more likely found due to their low solubility in water”. PCBs mainly bioaccumulate in fish

and other aquatic life. Because PCBs enter the environment through industrial facilities and

landfills, water bodies which are closer to these things will have more PCB pollution. This

means the more urbanized the area surrounding a water body is, the more likely it is to be

polluted with PCB. The Cooper River is a river that goes through a very urbanized area. It runs

through the Philadelphia suburbs and empties into the Delaware River. Adding to that it also

passes through Crows Woods Recreational Fields in Haddonfield, NJ, which is a former landfill

converted into athletic fields. Looking at the river on a map it is clear the river runs through

densely populated residential areas as well as several industrial areas.

The NPS management measures for this water body should be focused on areas where

there used to be waste sites or landfills and also industrial areas along the river. One of the

most important areas I would start with would be Crows Woods Recreational Fields in

Haddonfield, NJ. This site used to be a landfill and is likely one of the major sources for PCBs in

Cooper River. There are likely large amounts of PCBs in the soil of these fields that make their

way to the water table and eventually to the river. A riparian buffer along the riverbank would

be very beneficial at keeping pollutants out. I would focus this buffer in the area where the

river passes through Crows Woods. I would also put large riparian buffers in areas where there
are large amounts of industrial facilities. Looking at the river on a map it can be seen that there

is a very large industrial park in Pennsauken township along the river. This area would also need

a large riparian buffer installed. Also, sites along the river should be tested for levels of PCBs.

Areas with the highest levels should have their soil and water remediated. Another

preventative measure would be to ban any further development along the river. It is best to

keep as much existing trees and vegetation along the river as possible to act as a filter for the

river. The targeted load reduction for PCBs should be 90%.

For technical and financial assistance, I believe government organizations combined with

private companies would be enough to meet the goals. Environmental firms would do site

testing and remediation while NJ DEP would install riparian vegetation and would also take care

of monitoring progress and deadlines. Funding would be provided by the municipalities and

townships that the river passes through. Federal and state funding could also be used. Most

likely this funding would come from environmental agencies such as the USEPA or the NJDEP.

This clean up would likely be eligible for the Clean Water Act Section 319 grant program. A

public donation fund should also be set up for people in the area who want to contribute to the

clean-up effort.

Education and outreach programs should be managed by municipal and county

governments. Municipalities in which the river runs through should have ads in their local

newspaper with information about the clean-up. Most municipalities also have their own

websites and could put information about the project there. The same should be done for the
county newspaper and website. I know many municipalities and counties now have social

media accounts which could be used to keep people up to date on what is going on. Mailing

flyers to households is also an option as well as posting flyers in downtown areas. Education in

this case should include what PCB’s are, where they came from and why it is important that

they be cleaned up. It should also include any restrictions that the river may have while being

cleaned up such as no fishing or no swimming.

Each aspect of this clean-up process should be ranked in order of what needs to be done

first. Things that should be done in the short term include identifying the most polluted areas,

collecting data and creating an overall plan for the implementation program, education

outreach, financial assistance and collecting data. Things to be done in the medium term would

include finding consulting firms to do the testing and remediation. Also, implementation of

management measures would occur in the mid-term. Long term would include things like

making sure milestones are met and monitoring to make sure PCBs stay at a certain level. All

short term goals should be met within one year. This includes selecting consulting firms,

collecting and analyzing data, organization of education programs and financial assistance being

secured. All short term goals should be met within 3 to 5 years. This includes implementation

of all management measures including planting of riparian buffers and soil remediation.

Milestone measures for 5+ years should be the continued measure of PCBs in the water body

and continued education and public outreach.

 In order to determine if loading reduction criteria are being met, first the water should

be tested before any management measures have been implemented. PCB levels should be

tested in parts per million. They should be tested at equal intervals along the river and should

include water and soil samples. Once all management measures have been implemented, PCB

levels should be measured every 6 months from the same locations to make sure they are

decreasing. If it is found that levels are not decreasing, then, new measures will have to be

taken. If the management measures are successful and levels of pollution are decreasing then

monitoring should continue for the foreseeable future but at longer intervals.

Although PCB’s are banned and are no longer used they still persist to this day in the

environment. It is important that steps are taken to remove as much as possible from the

environment not only because of its toxicity but also because of its ability to transport easily

through all three mediums of the environment.

 Work Cited

Hill, M. K. (2013). Understanding environmental pollution. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Surf Your Watershed. (n.d.). Retrieved March 07, 2017, from

https://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm