Kirkwood-Cohansey Study In 2001, the New Jersey Legislature
directed the Pinelands Commission to prepare an assessment of the key hydrologic
and ecological information needed to determine how the current and future
water-supply needs within the Pinelands area may be met while protecting the
Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system and avoiding any adverse ecological impact on
the Pinelands area. The enabling legislation, which appropriated $5,500,000 from
the Water Supply Fund for the preparation of the assessment, also required that
the assessment be implemented in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection, Rutgers University, the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service, and the United States Geological Survey.
Scientists from the cooperating agencies and institutions (link to list of
cooperators) prepared a work plan for Kirkwood Cohansey Project which was
approved by the Pinelands Commission in October 2003 (link to work plan). The
work plan consists of several components that are to be completed by project
cooperators. The anticipated completion date for the Kirkwood-Cohansey Project
is June 2009.
