Andrew's Blog

Introduction

There are many problems that threaten the safety of the marine and plant life of the coastal lakes around Monmouth County. These problems that are ever evolving at the coastal lakes in Monmouth County are important to resolve because the ecosystems and the animals that thrive in these environments are suffering heavily due to the poor quality of the lakes. In order to restore these lakes, we must work hard to combat the many issues that have developed over the last few years. Some of these problems include, storm water runoff, algae blooms, litter, and many other problems have developed from neglection of these costal lakes. Hurricane Sandy which hit Monmouth County in October 2012, had a huge impact on these coastal lakes. These costal lakes are important parts of the community as they are sources of fresh water and provide amenities to local citizens. The purpose of this white paper is to shed light on the problems happening in and around the coastal lakes of Monmouth County, while also promoting solutions to these problems. This report will serve to present the problems of algae blooms, storm water runoff, litter and other problems that develop at these costal lakes, while also providing possible solutions to these problems. 

Market Drivers 

            In the last few years, the coastal lakes have started to take a drastic downward decline due to the many problems that have plagued the lakes over the years. Hurricane Sandy had a massive effect on these lakes as it destroyed the water quality, by adding trash and other pollutants into the water. In recent years the water quality has become worse and will continue to get worse every year till the problems are resolved. “Coastal lakes are important parts of New Jersey’s aquatic ecosystems, and they have slowly become degraded over time, creating unhealthy environments for animals and plant life that use these coastal lakes to live.” (Clonet, 2023) This means that is something isn’t done soon more animals and plants will die until the problem is resolved. Luckily there are some organizations that have started working on the problem, but they are going to need help to resolve all the issues. Today there are many problems that still causing unrest in the costal lakes, such as, algae blooms, trash, and water quality. Possibly the biggest of all the problems is the influx of algae blooms in recent years. In the past the many of the costal lakes were estuaries, which means that they the water is a mix of both salt water and river water. “Since the coastal lakes were historically estuaries, many of the species needed a delicate balance of fresh and salt water and open exchange with the ocean to survive.” (McNamara, 2013) In order to combat these problems at the Monmouth County costal lakes it is important to understand what these lakes need in order to grow and thrive.

Historical Overview 

            The Monmouth County coastal lakes started as estuaries where kids would come play, people would picnic, and even fish, but now all of the coastal lakes in Monmouth County are severely suffering due to the many problems that have developed over the years. “These include the proliferation of waterfowl, excessive algal growth, and the reduced viability of Wreck Pond as an estuary as the pond moves through stages of succession toward being wetlands.” (NJDEP) Many of these problems have developed because of the many rainstorms and hurricanes that have hit the coast of NJ in the last few years. This combined with the fact that the lakes were left to their own for many years as lead to poor water quality in the lakes. “On a four-tier scale that denotes the status of water quality, Monmouth County’s 10 coastal lakes fall in the worst possible category, according to data gathering led by Monmouth University that continues today.” (Flammia, 2021) The poor quality of the water stems from the many problems with algae blooms, trash, salinity, temperature, pH, foreign chemicals, and many other problems in the water. Some of the coastal lakes that were affected were, Wreak Pond, Deal Lake, Takanassee Lake, Wesley Lake, Fletcher Lake, Sylvan Lake, Silver Lake, Spring Lake, and Lake Como. What is interesting about these lakes is that even though they are all fairly close together they have increasingly different levels of problems. “It also revealed that, despite the lakes being within a 15-mile radius of one another, their water quality and health varied widely, with some lakes being reliably more polluted and more likely to develop harmful algal blooms (HABs) than others.” (McCarthy 2023) It is important to note the difference in problems between the bodies of water as solutions to solving one might not work for another. It is important that we monitor the water and make sure no foreign object enter the water to keep the water conditions at a safe level.

Problem Development

            The first problem of major concern when it comes to protecting the coastal lakes is to make sure that we clean out all the trash and litter that could be harmful to marine animals and plants that live around the lake. There are two major problems that stem from trash or litter entering the water, the first being that the trash can be eaten by fish and other marine animals which can cause them to get sick or die. The trash can also get tangled around the marine animals and effect the way they breathe and move around. The second problem that comes from the trash entering the water is that these pieces of trash can release nutrients into the water that can cause an uptick in algae growth. This is not the only problem though as McCarthy mentions, “Rain events push excess nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen (from sewer leakage and fertilizer and stormwater runoff) into lake watersheds, feeding algae” (McCarthy, 2023) This means that it is very important to keep all foreign objects out of the water as it is important to attempt to keep these nutrients from getting into the water and causing algae blooms. In a study done by environmental Resources Planning, LLC it showed, “The percentage of recyclables in litter along waterways was 36.7 percent, a much higher percent of overall litter compared to the 2017 land-based survey (28.9 percent)” (Environmental Resources and Planning LLC, 2019) This stat shows us that the problem is not getting better and is getting worse, which means that the more time that is taken to act on this problem the worse it will become. With all the trash and recycles ending up near these lakes will be incredibly harmful to the marine life and ecosystem, as well as cause algae blooms that are devasting to the marine life of the pond. 

            Algae blooms occur when rich nutrients enter the water of the costal lakes. Algae can be defined as, “Algae are microscopic organisms that live in aquatic environments and use photosynthesis to produce energy from sunlight, just like plants.” (The US Department of Health and Human Services) Algae blooms are very damaging to marine ecosystems for a few main reasons. The first main reason why these Algae are so dangerous is because they could be toxic and could poison the marine life living in the lake. The US Department of Health and Human services say, “A harmful algal bloom (HAB) occurs when toxin-producing algae grow excessively in a body of water.” (The US Department of Health and Human Services) Another problem that these algae blooms create is that they absorb a lot of the oxygen in the water, which can lead to the suffocation of marine life. These algae blooms can form in most bodies of water but there are a few specific conditions where algae tend to thrive. Scientists at the department of Health and Human Services says, “Scientists know that certain environmental conditions, such as warmer water temperatures in the summer and excessive nutrients from fertilizers or sewage waste brought by runoff, trigger HABs, but they are still learning more.”  (The US Department of Health and Human Services) The water conditions, temperature, and salinity are all key factors that must be managed when helping to restore the costal lakes. The coastal lakes in Monmouth County have many problems when talking about the quality of water. There are many aspects of the water to manage, as it is important to monitor temperature, pH, salinity, and more factors that lead to quality changes in the water. These aspects can have a huge effect on the marine life and ecological condition of the coastal lakes. Luckily scientist have invented tests that can be used to help monitor all aspects of the water. “EPA’s seven basic indicators used to assess ecological conditions are water clarity, dissolved oxygen, coastal wet-lands loss, eutrophication levels, sediment contamination, benthic condition, and contaminant accumulation in fish tissue.” (Environmental Science and Technology, 2002) All of these tests help to keep the marine environments of the costal lakes safe as without them the lakes would be in even more trouble, as we would have no way to measure the volume of the problem and would likely make the problem worse. Another common test that is done is that scientists can test the fish themselves to see how many toxins are in their bodies. “Waters were scored as ‘poor’ for the contaminant accumulation in fish indicator if more than 10% of fish sampled had tissue residues greater than U.S. Food and Drug Administration and international criteria, or more than 20% of those sampled had tissue residues greater than EPA guidance values.” (Environmental Science and Technology, 2002) It is important that these tests be done fairly often as the conditions of the water as they are in constant change. 

Generic Solutions and Benefits

            While there are many problems that affect the ecological condition of the costal lakes, there are still many ways in which the costal lakes could be saved. Scientists and volunteer community members are already helping to restore the lakes to their former glory. In order to completely restore the lakes, the community members and scientists need help to combat the problems. “State, county, and local governments must partner with representatives of civic and community organizations, and local coastal and watershed management groups to develop and implement cost-effective strategies to restore, protect, and maintain coastal lake ecosystems in Monmouth County.” (Clonet, 2023) It will take a lot of work and helping hands from the government to end the problems in the coastal lakes. One of the methods we can use to help the local costal lakes is to help with the trash. There are many ways to help with this problem, such as, making sure all of trash is disposed of properly and recycled, making sure no trash is left outdoors during storms, and helping to clean trash around the lake, are some that easy to help with. McCarthy from the Monmouth magazine says, “Properly managing trash and leaf litter helps, since they can add excess nutrients to water bodies if they enter sewage systems.” (McCarthy, 2023) This is a way to help that anyone can do as almost everyone has leaves that fall in their yard or garden, picking up these leaves and disposing of them can help to limit what makes it into the costal lakes during bad storms. It is important to stop these leaves from entering the water as it can lead it large algae blooms throughout the costal lakes. 

            The local community members that live around the coastal lakes would see great benefits if the problems were fixed, but what is most important is that it would help to protect the ecological structure of the lakes. This is very important for keeping the local wildlife of Monmouth County safe from the dangers of trash and algae blooms. The costal lakes provide many benefits to the people of Monmouth County as it can be a great place to relax and to bring the family. “The coastal lakes, throughout Monmouth and ocean county provide local and freshwater resources, offer important recreational and ascetic amenities, and most historically were estuaries.” (McNamara, 2013) This means that if a specific solution to all the problems are fixed people can return to activities such as, Fishing, picnicking, and other recreational activities. 

Specific Solutions

If trash and nutrients are kept out of the water, it can limit the frequency of algae blooms. We can do this by setting up heavy trash cans, that won’t get moved by strong winds, it is also important that they have secure lids to make sure the contents of the trashcan, doesn’t blow away. We should also have dedicated either volunteer or paid workers to manage the trash cans as well as remove any trash around the lake.  Another way to help would be to add no smoking signs around the lakes as this would help to limit the number of cigarettes that end up in the water especially when the lakes are near residential areas. “This result indicates that significantly more tobacco-related litter was found in residential areas than in non-residential areas.” (Environmental Resources planning, LLC, 2019) Algae blooms are the next problem to manage but this should be easier to manage if the trash is managed. It would also be helpful to have the possible maintenance workers mange the leaves around the lakes to prevent them from entering the water, so that they cannot cause algae blooms. Finally, if a team of workers could help manage water conditions of the lakes are corrected to their ideal states by weekly testing the water pH, salinity, and temperature, then there would be no more problems in the costal lakes, but the costal lakes would still need to be constantly maintained. After all these objectives have been completely life could return to normal for the plants and marine animals that call these lakes home. We could also see a return of families at the coastal lakes for all the recreational activities it offers. 

Call to Action

            With the help of the community, the government, and local scientists the costal lakes of Monmouth County could have their ecological condition restored. If Monmouth Country can come together as a community, it can save the coastal lakes with the help of some volunteers who are committed to restoring the coastal lakes to their once former glory. As members of the Marine and environmental biology and policy club it is important to step up and take action against these problems and help to recruit other students to help out with these problems. With help from the club and other students the problems in the coastal lakes could be settled for years to come. 

Bibliography 

Cleaning up the Great Lakes. (2002). Environmental Science & Technology, 36(13), 269. https://doi-org.ezproxy.monmouth.edu/10.1021/es022349n

Clonet. (2023, December 20). Clonet – Coastal Lakes Observing Network. CLONet – Coastal Lakes Observing Network. https://www.monmouth.edu/clonet/

Dino, flammia. (2021, March 8). Poor Lake Quality in Monmouth County – likely a statewide problem. New Jersey 101.5. https://nj1015.com/poor-lake-quality-in-monmouth-county-likely-a-statewide-problem/

Environmental Resources Planning, LLC, & Ocean Conservancy. (n.d.). 2019 New Jersey Waterways Litter Survey – NJ clean … https://njclean.org/images/VLS/2019-Litter-Survey-Final-Report.pdf

 Lindsay, mcnamara, P. author By. (2013b, February 23). NJ has 20 Coastal Lakes (who knew?) and they all need help. lindsaymcnamara.com. https://lindsaymcnamara.com/2013/02/14/nj has-20-coastal-lakes-who-knew-and-they-all-need-help/

McCarthy, B. (2023, July 10). Troubled waters. Monmouth Magazine. https://www.monmouth.edu/magazine/troubled-waters/

NJDEP-wreck pond report-final – state of New Jersey. (n.d.). https://nj.gov/dep/special/wreckpond.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Algal blooms. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/algal-blooms