Experts

Michele R. Donato graduated from Rutgers Law School, where she was an editor of the Rutgers Law Review. She clerked for the Honorable Merritt Lane, Jr., who handled the prerogative writ calendar for Monmouth County.
She currently represents the Planning Boards in the Boroughs Roosevelt and Allentown.

Ms. Donato has represented municipal agencies, developers and citizen groups throughout her career. Her practice is almost exclusively devoted to land use, historic preservation and environmental law.

Ms. Donato is General Counsel to New Jersey Planning Officials and President of the New Jersey Institute of Local Government Attorneys. In 2013, Ms. Donato received the William Cox Award for Excellence in Land Use. Ms. Donato was selected to Super Lawyers from 2011 to 2024. She was an Adjunct Professor with Rutgers University, Bureau of Local Government Services for more than twenty years and she lectured for organizations throughout the State.

Ms. Donato participated in the prestigious Oxford University Roundtable. She received the Monsignor Harding Award of Merit from Saint Peter’s High School. The League of Women Voters also honored her with an award for her work in preserving the environment.

Dr. Souza is the owner of Clean Waters Consulting and the founder and previous president of Princeton Hydro, an environmental engineering and consulting firm, up until his retirement in 2018. Over the years he has assisted Save Barnegat Bay in many ways both as a Water Quality Expert and as a Consultant, such as our fight to stop over development at Traders Cove and much more. Dr. Souza is currently working on education and outreach relating to stormwater issues by advocating for new and improved uses of Green Infrastructure.

Christopher C. Obropta, Ph.D., P.E. is the Extension Specialist in Water Resources with Rutgers Cooperative Extension, and he is a Professor with the Department of Environmental Sciences at the School of Environmental & Biological Sciences, Rutgers University. He has a doctorate in Civil Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, an M.S. in Civil Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Rutgers, Dr. Obropta was an environmental consultant for 12 years at Omni Environmental Corporation. Dr. Obropta has a background in watershed management, water quality modeling, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, and coastal engineering. His specific experience includes watershed restoration, onsite wastewater treatment system design and management, wasteload allocations and TMDL studies, stormwater management, wetland design, effluent dilution analyses, longshore sediment transport, computer-aided design, and geographic information systems (GIS). He teaches Bioresource Engineering Design I & II, where he directs student design teams to develop solutions to complex real-life engineering problems.

With his extensive and impressive background, Dr. Obropta leads his highly specialized team of professional staff who are determined to create innovative solutions to water quality issues in New Jersey.