Ten months after Superstorm Sandy, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says more work remains to be done along the shore, but tremendous progress has been made.

Governor Christie holds a press conference about New Jersey's clean beaches and clean water in Long Branch. (Governor's Office/Tim Larsen)
Governor Christie holds a press conference about New Jersey's clean beaches and clean water in Long Branch. (Governor's Office/Tim Larsen)
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"The DEP has done two things very successfully this summer - the water was clean and the beaches were clean and ready, and working with the municipalities. We've done that," says the Governor.

"We haven't had one closure this summer for unsafe water, now imagine how incredible that is, given what we went through in October," Christie explained. "Tourism is a $40 billion a year industry in the Garden State. We know this supports about half a million jobs in our state, so it's not only important for the people who come here, it's important for the people who live here."

Christie says the DEP oversaw the removal of 96,000 cubic yards of debris from New Jersey's waterways this summer to make them safe to swim in, and boat.

"Also, we've taken out 200 vessels from the waterways that were sunken during Sandy and we've scanned now 195,000 underwater acres to find more debris."

"We've cleaned up 275 marinas, so those marinas could operate for the boaters, and they could enjoy their boats and the waterways we have here in New Jersey - as a result the Jersey Shore was open this summer."

"After Sandy, clean water and clean beaches were a priority for the summer of 2013, so monitoring was stepped up for the 230 coastal beaches that run up and down the Jersey Shore," DEP Commissioner Bob Martin says.

"We continued aerial surveillance all through the summer six days a week, plus additional surveillance for areas where we thought additional debris had washed, or was washing up," Martin explained. "And we expanded our coordination with the towns, with the lifeguards, the department of health in each of the counties to make sure we're all working together as a team to make sure things happen."

 


Courtesy Governor's Office

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