Dogs Find Sewage Leaks into Navesink in Red Bank, Fair Haven and Middletown

Middletown, NJ - It took a pack of poop-sniffing dogs to locate exactly where sewage is leaking into the Navesink River.

We've already reported that the Navesink River has extremely high levels of human fecal bacteria — levels that make the water too dirty to swim in, fish in or harvest shellfish from. Now, Clean Ocean Action hired a team of scent-trained canines from a Maine company to identify exactly where human sewage is leaking into the Navesink.

In late September of this year, the three dogs — Sable, Logan and Remi — scouted the Middletown/Red Bank/Fair Haven area. Incredibly, they found more than 70 places where human sewage may be leaking into the river. The Red Bank area is the worst, with the most number of sewage leaks detected.

Here are some of the places where the dogs detected human sewage contamination: (Read the entire report here.)

Red Bank

Marine Park area:

• Catch basin 4 near the corner of Wharf Avenue and Union Street
• Manhole 36 at the corner of Mechanic Street and Globe Court
• Manhole 44 on Wallace Street between Mount Street and Broad Street

Maple Avenue/Maple Cove:

• The first catch basin at the end of Maple Avenue
• A catch basin on the west side of Maple Avenue in front of the corporate building
• Catch basin 141 on the corner of Maple Avenue and Front Street, next to the Chipotle

Oyster Point and Hubbards Bridge Area:

• The shoreline of the river west of Cooper’s Bridge.
• Outfall 3 at Hubbards Bridge and Front Street.

Swimming River:

• Swimming River upstream of Hubbards Bridge were conducted. Human sewage contamination was detected in Swimming River just upstream of the outfall at the end Chapin Avenue, near where Newman Springs Road crosses over the river.
• Logan alerted on the water at the banks of the river across from the nursing home at the end of Chapin Avenue and at a catch basin on the bank above it. There was extensive stormwater erosion at the site.

Schwenker’s Pond:

• Both canines alerted strongly at manhole 7 on Harrison Avenue between Mechanic Street and Marion Street. There was flowing water and a strong sanitary odor.
• Both canines alerted at a catch basin numbered 264 next to the tennis courts and across the street from 44 Marion Courts. There was flowing water and a strong sanitary odor.

Fair Haven

Fourth Creek and McCarter Pond Area:

• Logan alerted at two locations in Fourth Creek at low tide. The first location was at the bank of the creek directly below where boats are stored on the hill in the River Rats sailing club area.
• The second location was at the tip of land south of the sailing club where Fourth Creek appears to divide into two branches, with separate drainages to the river. There was a portable toilet near the boat storage area but it appeared to have been well maintained.
• Both canines alerted at the driveway of 715 River Road where Fourth Creek crosses under the driveway. Sable investigated the creek to the North of this location and alerted on a broken old clay pipe on the West side of the creek.
• Both canines alerted at a PVC pipe in Fourth Creek next to the parking lot of The Commons at 740 River Road. The pipe was connected to a catch basin in the parking lot at the bank of the creek, and both canines alerted at the catch basin.
• Both canines alerted at a manhole on 3rd Street near the Knights of Columbus building at the corner of Fair Haven Road. There was water flow coming in the manhole from two directions.
• Both canines alerted in an open channel of Fourth Creek behind a residence upstream of the Knights of Columbus building.

Middletown:

McClees Creek: Both canines alerted on a water sample collected from the main branch of the creek by the NJDEP at the Navesink River Road crossing. Additional sampling by the NJDEP during the rain event on September 19 also showed very high fecal bacteria counts.

Shadow Lake Area: The ECS canines alerted to the presence of human sewage in a water sample collected from Shadow Lake at Hubbard Avenue.

Photos: Clean Ocean Action/Environmental Canine Services LLC