Intense development in and around the Pinelands, from iron forges and munitions factories to the McMansions of today, has severely distressed the region’s lifeblood: its groundwater.
“The
more we develop, the more we damage the very assets that attract
development in the first place,” said Daniel Van Abs, a Rutgers
University professor behind a report released Tuesday through the planning advocacy group New Jersey Future.
Sprawling neighborhoods encroach upon forests and wetlands important for a healthy ecosystem and storm protection. Those communities require a lot of drinking water, drawing down the shallow Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer that also feeds many wetlands. Recharging that groundwater is more difficult because of the impervious surfaces created by development. Meanwhile, the quality of drinking water is threatened by agricultural and industrial activity.
Entire article at
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/groundwater-across-south-jersey-stressed-by-development-pollution/article_4fdb3c32-1732-11e4-b0cf-0019bb2963f4.html
Sprawling neighborhoods encroach upon forests and wetlands important for a healthy ecosystem and storm protection. Those communities require a lot of drinking water, drawing down the shallow Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer that also feeds many wetlands. Recharging that groundwater is more difficult because of the impervious surfaces created by development. Meanwhile, the quality of drinking water is threatened by agricultural and industrial activity.
Entire article at
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/groundwater-across-south-jersey-stressed-by-development-pollution/article_4fdb3c32-1732-11e4-b0cf-0019bb2963f4.html
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