Bill > A6093

Introduced Session

This bill would require, within one year of the bill's effective date, the Department of Environmental Protection (department) to develop a process to identify and designate municipalities within the State where critical headwaters are located as headwater guardians. The designation of a municipality as a headwater guardian would signal the role of a municipality's critical headwater in providing clean drinking water to residents of the State and ensure any environmental protections that may be necessary to protect the continued, effective environmental functioning of the critical headwater. In developing this process, the department would be required to locate headwaters in municipalities of the State and designate certain headwaters as critical headwaters if the headwater provides a primary source of drinking water for a population of at least 1,000,000 New Jersey residents according to the most recent federal decennial census. No later than 30 days after the establishment of the identification and designation process, the department would be required to designate any municipality within the State where a critical headwater is located as a headwater guardian. The department would be required to publish the list of municipalities that are designated headwater guardians on the department's Internet website and update the list as necessary. Within six months of the designation of a municipality as a headwater guardian, the department would be required to make a determination as to whether any environmental protections are required to be implemented to protect a municipality's critical headwater's ability to provide clean drinking water to residents of this State. If the department determines that environmental protections are necessary, the department would be required to publish information related to the environmental protections on the department's Internet website. All designations of headwater guardians and environmental protection determinations would be required to be subject to a public comment period of not less than 30 days. The bill also provides that any considerations, benefits, or protections allowed for a headwater, critical headwater, or headwater guardian pursuant to any law, rule, or regulation would apply to a municipality that is designated by the department as a headwater guardian. Under the bill, the department may establish a program, in a form and manner determined by the department, to highlight certain municipalities that have been designated as headwater guardians and that have demonstrated exemplary watershed stewardship. Finally, no later than two years after the bill's effective date, and annually thereafter, the department would be required to prepare and submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature that includes, at a minimum, information concerning: (1) all headwater guardian designations; (2) any environmental protections required for headwater guardians; (3) recommendations for improving the headwater guardian designation process; (4) recommendations for interagency coordination, including, at a minimum, interagency coordination with the Board of Public Utilities, Department of Transportation, and Department of Community Affairs; and (5) measurable outcomes, such as reductions in pollutant loadings, flood damage avoided, or acres of riparian buffers preserved. This bill would provide cost-savings for municipalities and the State through avoided flood damages, improved resilience, and reduced long-term infrastructure costs. The intent of the bill is not to impose any new mandates, but rather to elevate municipalities that are already protecting their headwaters, while allowing the department to tailor protections as necessary.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Aura Dunn (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee (on 11/24/2025)

Official Document