At a time when the Trump administration is rolling back U.S. clean water regulations, New Jersey has stepped up protections on 600 miles of rivers and streams throughout the state.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced this week that it is bestowing so-called “Category One” stream protections on some key waterways, including enhanced pollution controls on a two-mile stretch of the Cooper River in Camden — the first urban waterway in the state to be protected.

A Category One designation is second only to the protections given to streams and rivers in state and national parks, the state DEP said. The designation strictly limits pollution and sewage discharges and creates 300-foot protected landscapes and wildlife habitat along both banks of designated streams. The protections are designed, among other things, to preserve or improve water quality to the point where boating, fishing, and swimming are all possible.

Read more at Yale Environment 360

Image: Aerial view of the Cooper River in Camden County, New Jersey.  CREDIT: Yale 360

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