A Brown Tide Welcomes Summer in Sandy Hook Bay

Last Sunday marked the official start of summer. Yet, the summer solstice arrived quietly along the Jersey Shore and much of the northeast as showers continued. While it didn't rain all day, for admirers of warm weather and sunny skies, the day, if not the month, has been a real disappointment.

On average, June is typically known as a month of beautiful weather in the northeast. Normally weather systems move in and out quickly.

This year, June has felt more like April. It has been mostly damp, dreary, and cool.  Wave after wave of severe storms and slow moving low pressure systems have brought on the whole cloudy, humid, and wet weather with below normal temperatures.  I think for overall gloomy and stormy weather, this June has probably been the worst I can remember.

(Do we want dirty water to be the new symbol of summer in Sandy Hook Bay?)

The wild, rainy weather hasn't helped local water conditions either. All of the storm water runoff from people's property, parking lots, and roadways has left water quality in Sandy Hook Bay looking grimy and dirty.

Last Friday and Saturday, I noticed there was a long slick of brown, grubby water near the coastline. It extended from the Atlantic Highlands Harbor to at least Ideal Beach in Middletown Township. The water was a deep brown color with foam. Scattered about in the brown water was lots of red algae, Sea Lettuce, and bits of assorted floating trash, including cigarette butts, plastic bags, tampon containers, tin cans, and plastic drinking bottles. I even noticed a small slick of oil in places, mostly likely washed in from a nearby parking lot. Sadly, Sandy Hook Bay once again looked like a cesspool, just in time for summer.

Now I am not sure if scientifically what took place in the bay was a brown tide or a bloom of diatoms (a type of numerous microscopic, unicellular marine algae).  Either case, the water was ugly and had an immediate aesthetic impact on residents and tourists. The water was clearly unfit for a number of coastal recreational activities, such as swimming or wading in the water.  Moreover, the poor water quality I am sure had an impact to some species of aquatic plants and local aquatic critters who call Sandy Hook Bay home for the summer.

(A slick of oil mostly likely from leaky vehicles could also be found floating in the water last week)

In searching for a cause for this hideous water, I didn't have to go far. It is nearly everyone who lives in the Sandy Hook Bay watershed region. .

In general, a brown tide occurs for a number of different reasons including the illegal discharge of raw sewage in the water, runoff from local roadways and parking lots, or runoff from lawns and fields that contain excessive amounts of fertilizers and nitrogen. The same factors also affect a bloom of diatoms.

No matter the name, the algae bloom in Sandy Hook Bay last week increased in a very short period of time (perhaps as little as 24 hours). Growth took place in low light conditions and the alga was able to expand rapidly by elevated quantities of available organic nitrogen in the water.

For at least the past five summers, the waters of Sandy Hook Bay have been turned into a murky brown soup by different tiny organisms that feed off of nitrogen and other chemicals that can be commonly found from poorly maintained septic systems, defective sewage pipes, green lawns that contain too much fertilizer, or from neglected pet waste.

(Along the coastline were found quite a lot of dead Spider Crabs. What killed them?)

The rapid emergence of sprawl in and around the watershed region of Sandy Hook Bay and everything that comes with deficient, greedy development has wreaked havoc with the natural aquatic processes that have naturally been controlling water quality for countless centuries. The spread of homes, shopping centers, and other structures; as well as manicured lawns, pet waste, driveways, sidewalks, roads, parking lots have replaced the many trees, shrubs, native grasses, wetlands, and open soils that once existed in large number within the watershed region. Generally, most of the trash and chemical pollution in our communities adds to the burden of poor water quality in Sandy Hook Bay.

Though not harmful to humans or fish, a brown tide is nonetheless disgusting to see. With local water temperatures in Sandy Hook Bay in the lower 70s (which is a temperature range that the brown tide species lives best in), we need to ask ourselves if we want brown tides to be symbol of  Sandy Hook Bay every summer.

Do we want soiled or healthier waters? Brown tides can be reduced, but it will take all of us to work together to reduce pollution and bring back the natural processes (the forests, meadows, and wetlands) that work for free to help control water quality. Do we have the will-power to improve water quality in Sandy Hook Bay or will we continue to strangulate and smother the life right out of this beautiful wild place.