Nicholas A. Procopio

This review integrates hydrogeological and geochemical processes to assess the impacts of climate change on groundwater quality in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain (NACP). Projected changes in air temperature, precipitation, and sea‐level rise are expected to influence groundwater recharge, discharge, storage, and seawater intrusion in shallow unconfined aquifers, thereby modifying aquifer dynamics. Such changes affect biogeochemical reactions, contaminant transport, and chemical stability, leading to both short‐ and long‐term impacts on groundwater quality. Climate‐related stressors such as flooding and drought, combined with known and emerging contaminants including per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and microplastics (MPs), pose significant risks to drinking water and ecosystem health. The review identifies processes most vulnerable to climate‐driven changes, providing insights to support the design of adaptive groundwater monitoring networks and modeling strategies. Long‐term monitoring is essential to track contaminant trends, inform regulatory decision‐making actions, and reduce human exposure risks in the NACP and comparable coastal regions. However, quantifying these climate‐related impacts on groundwater quality remains challenging due to uncertainties in climate projections and hydrogeological complexity, emphasizing the need for integrated modeling frameworks and adaptive management approaches.

Since the adoption of New Jersey (NJ) Private Well Testing Act (PWTA) over 20 years ago, approximately 134,000 wells have been tested, representing an estimated 34% of the private wells in NJ. The PWTA requires testing of raw water from residences with a private well at real estate transfer. Landlords are required to test private wells every five years and provide results to tenants. There are up to 43 required parameters including bacteria, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), synthetic organic compounds (SOCs), arsenic, iron, lead, mercury, nitrates, gross alpha radioactivity, uranium, three per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), alongside secondary contaminants iron, manganese, and pH. Among tested wells, 15.7% had at least one or more exceedance of a primary drinking water standard. The most common exceeding contaminants have historically been gross alpha radioactivity and arsenic, but since the inclusion of PFAS in 2022, over 12% of wells have exceeded for at least one PFAS. Jurisdictions interested in developing real estate private well testing policies can contemplate many of the findings, successes, and limitations of NJ's PWTA and should consider private well testing policies as a part of a larger private well program which brings together local, state, and federal resources.

In all, 13 stream water‐quality parameters, including specific conductance (SC), pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), three nutrients, and six major ions were compared between the northern bedrock and southern coastal plain regions of New Jersey, USA and related to watershed‐disturbance gradients characterized by the percentage of urban land, impervious surface (IS), agriculture, and altered land (sum of urban land and agriculture) in the watersheds. SC, DO, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride concentrations were greater in the north. DOC was higher and pH was lower in the south. Nutrient, potassium, and sulfate concentrations did not differ between regions. Regional water‐quality differences are attributed to geologic setting and land use. Except for DO in southern streams, all water‐quality parameters were related to urban land, agriculture, or both. Significant correlations between urban land and IS and water‐quality variables were similar in both regions with differences in unitless correlation coefficients ranging from 0.00 to 0.06. Compared to urban land and agriculture, relationships between most water‐quality variables and altered land were stronger in the south. The extent of urban and agricultural lands in the watersheds did not differ by region. Altered land was correlated with urban land in both regions and with agriculture only in the south. Although focused on New Jersey, this study has broader implications for watershed planning.

Biological invasion has been one of the reasons that coastal wetlands gradually lose their ecological services. The current study investigates the spread of a commonly found invasive species in coastal wetlands in Northeastern US, the Phragmites australis. Within a relatively pristine wetland complex in coastal New Jersey, we collected high-resolution multispectral remote sensing images for eight years (2011–2018), in both winter and summer seasons. The land cover/land use status in this wetland complex is relatively simple, contains only five identifiable vegetation covers and water. Applying high accuracy machine learning algorithms, we are able to classify the land use/land cover in the complex and use the classified images as the basis for the grey system coupled system dynamics simulative model. The simulative model produces land use land cover change in the wetland complex for the next 25 years. Results suggest that Phragmites australis will increase in coverage in the future, despite the stable intensity of anthropogenic activities. The wetland complex could lose its essential ecological services to serve as an exchange spot for nekton species from the sea.

The observation of testicular oocytes in male fishes has been utilized as a biomarker of estrogenic endocrine disruption. A reconnaissance project led in the Northeastern United States (US) during the period of 2008–2010 identified a high prevalence of intersex smallmouth bass on or near US Fish & Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges that included the observation of 100% prevalence in smallmouth bass males collected from the Wallkill River, NJ, USA. To better assess the prevalence of intersex smallmouth bass across the state of New Jersey, a tiered reconnaissance approach was initiated during the fall of 2016. Surface water samples were collected from 101 (85 river, 16 lake/reservoir) sites across the state at base-flow conditions for estrogenicity bioassay screening. Detectable estrogenicity was observed at 90% of the sites and 64% were above the US Environmental Protection Agency trigger level of 1 ng/L. Median surface water estrogenicity was 1.8 ng/L and a maximum of 6.9 ng/L E2Eq_BLYES was observed. Adult smallmouth bass were collected from nine sites, pre-spawn during the spring of 2017. Intersex was identified in fish at all sites, and the composite intersex prevalence was 93.8%. Prevalence across sites ranged from 70.6% to 100%. In addition to intersex, there was detectable plasma vitellogenin in males at all sites. Total estrogenicity in surface water was determined at these fish collection sites, and notable change over time was observed. Correlation analysis indicated significant positive correlations between land use (altered land; urban + agriculture) and surface water estrogenicity. There were no clear associations between land use and organismal metrics of estrogenic endocrine disruption (intersex or vitellogenin). This work establishes a baseline prevalence of intersex in male smallmouth bass in the state of New Jersey at a limited number of locations and identifies a number of waterbodies with estrogenic activity above an effects-based threshold.

Households with pregnancies and young children are a priority group for outreach on private well water screening due to the widespread occurrence and toxicity of common groundwater contaminants such as arsenic. Given the trusted role of health care providers as communicators of health risk, Columbia University investigators and New Jersey government partners collaborated with Hunterdon Healthcare to offer free well testing to residents of Hunterdon County, a hot spot for naturally occurring arsenic in New Jersey. Through practice-based test kit distribution and online patient portal messages, supported by a public multimedia campaign, we tested 433 private wells and alerted 50 families about elevated arsenic found in their drinking water. These health care–facilitated outreach strategies allowed for targeting based on geographic and demographic risk and suggested opportunities to better leverage communication channels, such as incorporating questions on home water source into the electronic medical record.

Goodrow, S.M.; Procopio, N.A.; Korn, L.; Morton, P.; Schuster, R.; Pang, H.; Kunz, C.; Ingelido, P., and Heddendorf, B., 2017. Long-term temporal water-quality trends within the Barnegat Bay watershed, New Jersey. In: Buchanan, G.A.; Belton, T.J., and Paudel, B. (eds.), A Comprehensive Assessment of Barnegat Bay–Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. This regional water-quality assessment compiles and analyzes water-quality data within the Barnegat Bay watershed (Ocean County, New Jersey) to determine if significant changes and trends occurred over decadal spans. Data evaluated spanned from the 1970s through July of 2013. Trends were evaluated after regionalizing sampling locations into 17 geographic zones. Over 1700 sampling stations within freshwater and Bay zones provided over 280,000 data results for 20 parameters. The parameters evaluated include: temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, nutrients, indicator bacteria, and solids. Temperature data comparing the 1970s with the present show st...

The Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority (BTMUA), which relies on the Metedeconk River as its primary source of water supply, initiated a perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA) source trackdown study in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) after discovering that the concentration of one PFAA, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), was elevated at their raw surface water intake. Water samples were collected over eight sampling events between September 2011 and July 2014. Samples included surface water, groundwater, stormwater, sanitary sewer water, and commercial/industrial process water. Each sample was analyzed for ten PFAAs. Results from a set of samples collected from the 80 km² South Branch Metedeconk River watershed directed the focus of this study to a 7.5-km² area of interest. Within this area, a high concentration of PFAA contamination was documented in a localized zone. Subsequent groundwater sampling led to the identification of a plume of groundwater contamination emanating from an industrial/business park. The suspected source of PFAA detected in the river and drinking water intake was identified to a small industrial facility that used materials containing PFOA. Groundwater PFOA concentrations as high as 70,000 ng/L were found in samples taken within 200 m of the parcel and surface water concentrations as high as 130 ng/L were observed in the river. While various PFAAs were detected in the samples, particularly in groundwater samples, PFOA was identified as the primary contaminant of concern with respect to the river and the BTMUA water supply.