N.J. Stat. § 13:13-3
The canal and feeder shall continue to be a public highway, and, until the legislature shall have further directed the use or disposition of the canal and feeder, the Department of Environmental Protection or its designee, the New Jersey Water Supply Authority, shall, until further directions of the legislature, repair and preserve the banks of the canal and feeder, and at all times keep a flow of water through the canal at a level heretofore maintained when the canal was in operation or as necessary to conduct dredging operations or effect repairs, except that, during the period of December fifteenth of each year and March first of the ensuing year, the department may close the canal or maintain such flow of water as it deems desirable or necessary to comply with any contract for the sale of water.
To insure the flow aforesaid and in order to preserve sanitary conditions in the canal and about the banks thereof and the towpath adjacent thereto, the feeder, the canal and the banks thereof and the towpath shall be kept free of weeds and other growth, save and except such growth as, in the judgment of the department, is conducive to the appearance of the canal and feeder and the banks and towpath thereof.
N.J.S. § 13:13-3