Estuarine Modeling: Applications in New York/New Jersey Harbor

James J. Fitzpatrick

For more than 300 years, the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) Harbor estuarine complex has been the focal point of navigation, manufacturing, commerce, transportation and urban growth. For much of that time the disposal of urban and industrial wastes to the Harbor's water has been an issue. Anthropogenic pollution, disruption and loss of habitat, mismanagement of seed beds, and bacterial contamination from raw sewage disposal all contributed to the demise of a once economically viable oyster habitat within the Harbor. This together with chronically low dissolved oxygen levels in the Harbor led to public support for the construction and continued upgrades of sewage treatment plants beginning in the late 1930s. However, the completion of New York City's last two sewage treatment plants in the mid-80s did not remedy all of the water quality problems in the Harbor. Combined sewer overflows and the discharges of nutrients and toxic pollutants have continued to result in degraded water quality and benthic habitat in various regions of the Harbor. These issues are further complicated by the tidal nature of the Harbor system through its connection with the Atlantic Ocean via the NY Bight and Long Island Sound and the freshwater inflow from the Hudson River and numerous NJ tributaries.

This presentation will provide an overview of how monitoring (which began in 1909), estuarine modeling (beginning with the seminal work of O'Connor in the early 1960s) and environmental management have interacted together to result in improved water quality within the NY/NJ Harbor complex over the past 50 years. The primary focus of the paper, however, will be on the use of mathematical models in NY/NJ Harbor to help evaluate the potential effectiveness of pollution control alternatives. As the water quality issues being addressed in NY/NJ Harbor have become more complex, so has the level of sophistication of the models being applied. The status of current estuarine models (linked hydrodynamic and water quality) will be presented as they have evolved from early modeling studies in the Harbor. The presentation will conclude with the current schedule for completing TMDLs for pathogens, dissolved oxygen, and toxics for the Harbor and the role that estuarine modeling will play in the TMDL analyses being developed for this complex estuarine setting.

To be Presented at:

November 13-16, 2002
National TMDL Science and Policy Conference
Hosted by the Water Environment Federation
Phoenix, Arizona