A Natural Resource Management Guide for the County of Morris A ...

PASSAIC RIVER BASIN
The Passaic River Basin constitutes the largest area
of the county. It is made up of several watersheds
including the Upper Passaic, the Whippany, the
Rockaway and the Pequannock.
Upper Passaic River Watershed
The Upper Passaic River Watershed is the most
extensive of the County's major river basins.
Sustaining riverine, open water, and wetland habitat
for wildlife, the Passaic River also provides drinking
water, fishing and recreational opportunities to the
region's inhabitants. These benefits are occasionally
offset by the Passaic's flooding of low lying areas. Decades of urban/suburban development, filling in
floodplains, altering the stream morphology, increased discharges and runoff, and decommissioning wetlands
has served to exacerbate this normal phenomenon.
The Passaic's headwaters, emanating in Mendham Township, are considered to be generally of good-toexcellent
quality. The waters are well oxygenated at all times and contain low-to-moderate nutrient
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concentrations. The upper reaches meet the aquatic life designated use. They have received Federal Wild
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Trout Stream designation, and NJ Surface Water Quality classification of FW-2 TP (C1).
Dissolved oxygen is low at the Millington station but improves downstream near
Chatham. Nutrient levels, particularly phosphorus, increase downstream. Inorganic
nitrogen worsens downstream from Millington. Though lead levels are elevated at
Millington and Chatham, they are within water quality criteria. The numerous
municipal wastewater discharges have “severely challenged the limited assimilative
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capacity of the river.”
The 1996 Inventory describes the upper Passaic as non-impaired and its tributaries
deteriorating to moderately and severely impaired downstream (Chatham and
Hanover areas, Black Brook and portions of Loantaka Brook) based on
macroinvertebrate communities surveys.
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U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Morristown National Historical Park Water
Resources Scoping Report, Technical Report (NPS/NRWRD/NRTR-93/17) 7.
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Wild Trout Stream: stream segments supporting viable wild trout populations with a limited sport fishery;
designation provides greater protection to wild trout populations by eliminating fish stocking activities and
establishing more stringent fishing regulations. (National Park Service 18)
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NJ DEP, Surface Water Quality Standards, 1998.
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NJ DEP, 1996 Inventory 59.
84 Surface Water