News & Events
Near-real-time Water Quality Monitoring in the Raritan River Using Hybrid Vehicular-static Stations
Near-real-time water-quality monitoring of different variables in the Raritan River is critical to protect the aquatic life and to prevent propagation of the potential pollution in the water. Using only static sensors attached to fixed monitoring stations with predefined configurations is not a real-time and efficient solution for data collection as the...
Blue Carbon in the Tidal Marshes of the Raritan
Tidal marshes provide a range of ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration. Although New Jersey’s tidal marshes appear to have kept pace with historical sea level rise in the pre-industrial period (Kemp et al., 2013), accelerating rates of sea level rise (Sweet et al., 2017) coupled with land-use changes (Lathrop et al., 2014) and sediment...
#lookfortheriver: finding historic streams of the Lower Raritan Watershed
The changing climate and development patterns of the Lower Raritan Watershed occur against a backdrop of substantial impervious surface coverage (approximately 34%), high population density, and significantly modified stream networks (e.g., stream straightening and burial, culverts, underground retention). Through hundreds of years of anthropogenic...
RISE on the Raritan
The Rutgers Raritan River Consortium (R3C) is dedicated to providing students, especially those from diverse backgrounds, with opportunities to access and study the Raritan alongside professionals, stakeholders and decision-makers. Similarly, the RISE at Rutgers program, run by the Rutgers School of Graduate Studies, works to engage undergraduate students...
Development of a Volunteer Science Pathogen Monitoring Program on the Lower Raritan River
Little water quality data exists that can inform the safety of recreating on the highly urbanized Lower Raritan River. The Lower Raritan is actively used for fishing, paddling, catching bait fish, crabbing, jet skiing, wading and even swimming on a hot day, yet limited information is available for pathogen levels that have a direct effect on human health....
Opportunistic pathogens in the Raritan and the homes of people drinking the river
The burden of non-tuberculosis mycobacterium (NTM) infections on the US healthcare systems is estimated to cost $815 million annually. NTM causes chronic lung infections most commonly in older, immunocompromised, and cystic fibrosis patients. NTM can by-pass drinking water treatment and has been shown to proliferate in household plumbing biofilms after...
Quantifying the Presence and Abundance of Freshwater and Euryhaline Bivalves in the Raritan River
There is very little information on the density and or the species of bivalve mollusks present in the watershed of the Raritan River basin. The work that was conducted involved examining the presence or absence of bivalve mollusks from the mouth of the Raritan River to just past the Route 18 bridge in New Brunswick. The initial part of the project...
Environmental DNA (eDNA) Assay for Monitoring Recovery of River Herring
Mid-Atlantic populations of river herring (Alosa pseudoharengus, alewife, and A. aestivalis, blueback herring) have declined precipitously in recent years. River herring are listed as “Species of Special Concern” by the National Marine Fisheries Service. With over 1,700 dams in New Jersey, barriers to spawning migration are significant impediments to...
Generating an Elevation Grid for the Raritan River Basin
The objective of this project was to develop an elevation/bathymetry grid for the Raritan River Basin as a precursor for a hydrodynamic model. In addition, by identifying data gaps the project provides guidance on future side-scan sonar surveys of the river. Finally, the project assessed options for processing of side-scan sonar data and makes...
An officer was appointed to a cushy county job — after agreeing never to seek work there
Others are more skeptical. Marc H. Pfeiffer, a senior policy fellow at Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, said the settlement is “an unusual circumstance that requires consideration.” “The lawyers are going to have to look at the circumstances surrounding the original agreement and what the current freeholders...
Recent Products
Change of Occupancy Building Code Change Proposal
RECON Forecast August 2020 – NJ’s Pandemic Recovery and the Revised State Budget
R/ECON’s New Jersey forecast for August 2020 reveals a state still recovering from an economic lockdown caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Global, national, and state forecasts have experienced significant downward revision for 2020 employment growth.Those revisions cut...
An integrated model of the real estate market responses to coastal flooding
Understanding and improving how humans adapt to climate change are priorities in our research community, and coastal settlements are good places to study adaptation. Severe storm events and sea-level rise are threatening coastal communities with increasing levels of...
Designing to Engage Children in Monitoring Indoor Air Quality: A Participatory Approach
Indoor air quality (IAQ) is especially important for children because they are more susceptible to the deleterious impacts of poor air quality compared to adults. While devices to monitor IAQ are increasingly available, these are designed primarily for adults, and...