Committee votes to cut delay in water rules Environmentalists back quick implementation, saying the regulations are needed to aid watersheds and curb sprawl.

By Chelsea Conaboy INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Posted: January 05, 2010

A New Jersey Assembly committee voted yesterday to shorten a proposed delay on water-quality rules that has irked environmental groups.

The amended bill would give counties until next year to finish drafting a plan for limiting the zones in which sewer-line extensions will be permitted. The bill would suspend rules regulating, for the first time, how densely septic systems may be installed.

The original bill and a Senate version had put the deadline in 2012.

Environmental groups say the rules, approved in 2008, are needed now to protect the state's watersheds and control sprawl.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, said he was somewhat heartened by the amendment. But he still opposes several measures in the bill, including one that would allow any project that receives local approval this year to be exempt from the new rules.

"We made some progress, but there's still some things in there that are bad," he said.

Sponsors of the legislation say counties are behind in drafting their water-management plans, which were due in April, and need the extra time.

Sen. Steven Oroho (R., Sussex), a cosponsor, said he also was concerned that the changes would slow development and further tighten the job market for construction workers.

The companion bills are awaiting floor votes in both houses, which are to meet up to three more times before the end of the lame-duck session.

Contact staff writer Chelsea Conaboy at 856-779-3893 or cconaboy@phillynews.com.