70 



oontaffliaatlon. Xs « result, •v«n though our program is mors 

 pretaetlva of publlo health, our baaohes aay be perceived as 

 being Bore polluted than those of other states vhen in reality 

 they are not. 



It vould be convenient for Kew Jersey to baok off on our 

 nonitoring program so as to ease these peroeptual 

 misconceptions. It vould oost us less money and, with the 

 augmented perception, the State may even gain soma tourism 

 dollars. Bovever, Governor riorie and the legislature have opted 

 on the side of Increased public confidence in our waters and 

 protection of public health and have mandated that our 

 nonitoring program continue unabated. 



This decision has paid off in the long run. As I mentioned 

 earlier, since 1988 - the Shore's lov-point year - there has 

 bean steady improvement in the quality of our waters. In »»v 

 Jersey, we use the nationally accepted criteria for fecal 

 coliform. 99.4 percent of ocean monitoring stations and 9 6.7 

 percent of bay monitoring stations met the fecal coliform 

 standard in 1992. This is an improvement over readings of 98.6 

 and 92.5 percent respectively for 1991. Furthermore, the Onlted 

 States Bnvironmental Protection Agency has stated that 



•a^«reaeoal um,y b* • b«'tt«z' ladieAter tax ttaslxBlng naarobers 



water quality. In 1991, 93.9 percent of the stations monitored 

 for enterococol were within the surface water quality standard. 

 In 19 92, 100 percent met that standard. 



Our monitoring program, combined with improvements attained 

 in management of our wastewater and solid wastes in the coastal 

 area, have resulted in waters in which our citiaens can be 

 confident, such a program, as embodied in HS 31, is essential 

 for all of the nation's waters. 



