Official Site of The State of New Jersey

The future of Dredged Material Management (DMM) lies in regional planning and watershed analysis concepts. The New Jersey Department of Transportation's Office of Maritime Resources (NJDOT/OMR), with input from many others involved in this issue, is striving to develop DMM strategies that incorporate perpetual and sustainable use of confined disposal facilities (CDF) and other material management areas in a geographically comprehensive fashion.

For example, NJDOT/OMR is working at the county level with public and private partners in Cape May, with a variety of groups in Atlantic Highlands and the Shrewsbury/Navesink Rivers area and to advance regional DMM goals in and around the Shark River and Bay (pdf, 510kb). The future of New Jersey's coastal economy depends upon an efficient and effective DMM program.

In June of 2009, the first of what we hope to be many regional DMMPs was published by Bayshore Regional Watershed Council, in cooperation with NJDOT/OMR. Funded by IBOATNJ, the Bayshore DMMP (pdf, 4226kb) covers the Monouth County Bayshore region and outlines the needs and opportunities for dredging and beneficial use.

NJDOT/OMR is the only agency with the knowledge, expertise, reputation and administrative funding mechanism in place to achieve New Jersey's DMM goals. A Memorandum of Agreement between NJDOT/OMR and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Coastal Engineering (NJDEP/BCE) is in the final review stages which will allow for the cooperative use of many New Jersey's CDFs.

Specified and dedicated accounts will serve as a repository for the management fees. Fees will be site and project specific, based on the estimated cost of site management, a variable cost determined jointly by NJDEP/BCE and NJDOT/OMR.

The user fee will be collected and re-distributed to further management, operation, excavation, beneficial use development, technology development and other tasks that achieve perpetual and sustainable use of a regional site.

NJDOT/OMR will work cooperatively with NJDEP, counties, municipalities and others in order to achieve the highest and best use of available funding. This agreement, when in place, will facilitate the management of dredged material in New Jersey.