The Lower Raritan Watershed has been monitoring the water quality of Raritan Bay. The site where they test in Perth Amboy is at the beach by the end of Second St near the public boat launch. The water quality samples taken in June have shown Perth Amboy to be within the EPA standards with bacteria levels safe for recreation. Perth Amboy has non bathing public access beaches. Recreational water activity in Perth Amboy includes kayaking, sailing, fishing and wading.

The Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership (LRWP) has a program where volunteers are trained to monitor the water quality of Raritan Bay during the summer by taking samples from 5 public access sites around Raritan Bay. They monitor pathogens for Fecal Coliform and Enterococcus. The water sampling in Perth Amboy is done at the end of Second St. The other sampling sites include Riverside Park in Piscataway, Rutgers Boathouse at Boyd Park in New Brunswick, Edison Basin Boat Launch Edison Township, Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park in Sayreville and Raritan Bay Waterfront Park in South Amboy. These sites are non-bathing beach sites with active kayak/canoe launches and/or fishing and other water activities.

This water quality monitoring is greatly appreciated as it is not regularly monitored by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection or the New Jersey Department of Health and Human Services.

You can see the water quality updates on the Lower Raritan Watershed Facebook page and website.