Highlands Council grants $86,250 to West Milford for lake management plan

A grant not to exceed $86,250, approved at the most recent New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council meeting, will help advance water quality and sustainable planning goals in the Township of West Milford.

Assessing the watersheds surrounding 20-plus lakes

The money will be used in connection with the township’s plan to complete Phase II of a Lake Management Project initiated in 2020. The initial phase focused on a township-wide assessment of multiple watersheds surrounding more than 20 lakes in the municipality.

The second phase, funded through this award, will include in-lake water quality monitoring, trophic state analysis, and final reporting. The resulting General Assessment Report will include a summary of all findings, identify watershed management techniques and measures to address identified issues (including preliminary cost estimates for each recommended project), and provide a long term water quality monitoring plan covering all lakes in the study area.

“It is very rewarding when we can provide support to help a municipality advance a local priority that also helps advance the goals of the Highlands Act,” Highlands Council Chair Carl Richko said. “In looking at the three projects that received the latest grants you can draw a line from the Delaware River in Phillipsburg, through Lake Hopatcong in the middle of the New Jersey Highlands, straight up to West Milford along the New York border, and you’re reminded of why this great region is being protected.”

In Warren and Sussex counties

Richko’s reference included two other grants awarded at the same meeting as the one for West Milford. The Town of Phillipsburg in Warren County intends to update its 2004 Circulation Plan and restate its vision for safe pedestrian and bicycle movement through the town. The comprehensive plan will explore linking existing sidewalks and paths, developing new linkages, and opportunities for crosswalks, traffic calming, bike lanes, shared travel lanes and other important features to move people safely through the town. That grant is not to exceed $50,000.

The third grant, not to exceed $54,000 is for a storm water improvement project in Witten Park in Hopatcong Borough in Sussex County. This innovative storm water management project will convert a small stream in the park, which is currently eroding and transporting soil particles and associated adsorbed phosphorus into Lake Hopatcong, into a Regenerative Storm water Conveyance (RSC) system. The RSC system has the potential to remove up to 160 pounds per year from the lake and is part of a larger restoration project within Witten Park. The grant will fund the design phase of the RSC system project.

Previous funding

Last year the Highlands Council approved funding of up to $200,000 to support watershed assessment surrounding 22 private and public lakes in West Milford. Also approved for the municipality by the regional planning agency in 2020 was additional grant funding not to exceed $70,900 for storm water infrastructure mapping.

In the first phase of a two-phase watershed assessment project the scope of the work is focused on historic data review, an examination of hydrologic/pollutant loads; a pollutant removal analysis; and stream/watershed water quality analysis.

The storm water Mapping Infrastructure Project involves development of a single Geographic Information System map of the complete storm water infrastructure system and a database of storm water information for the entire township. The project will enable West Milford to fully meet its Municipal Storm Sewer Systems permit requirements while building a comprehensive database that will assist in future management and maintenance of the system.

Neighboring Jefferson Township also received a funding grant last year involving a water feasibility study not to exceed $100,000. With significant property frontage on the north and northeast portions of Lake Hopatcong, much of which is occupied by single family homes on small lots serviced by aging septic systems, an evaluation was planned. Previous studies had indicated the area is a significant contributor to phosphorus loading in the lake, which is known to encourage harmful algae blooms.