Commission Staff

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is an interstate/federal agency created in 1961 by compact legislation signed into law by President John F. Kennedy and the governors of the four basin states with land draining to the Delaware River. The passage of this compact marked the first time in our nation’s history that the federal government and a group of states joined together as equal partners in a river basin planning, development, and regulatory agency. The Delaware is the longest un-dammed river east of the Mississippi, extending 330 miles from the confluence of its East and West branches at Hancock, N.Y. to the mouth of the Delaware Bay where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. The river is fed by 216 tributaries, the largest being the Schuylkill and Lehigh Rivers in Pennsylvania. In all, the basin contains 13,539 square miles, draining parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. Included in the total area number is the 782 square-mile Delaware Bay, which lies roughly half in New Jersey and half in Delaware. Nearly 15 million people (approximately five percent of the nation’s population) rely on the waters of the Delaware River Basin for drinking and industrial use, but the watershed drains only four-tenths of one percent of the total continental U.S. land area. The 15 million figure includes about seven million people in the New York City area and northern New Jersey who live outside the basin. New York City gets roughly half its water from three large reservoirs located on tributaries to the Delaware. This publication covers calendar years 2004 and 2005, and was produced by the DRBC’s Communications Office, with the valuable assistance of numerous commission staff. It is available on the commission’s web site at www.drbc.net. Copies are available upon request by contacting the DRBC (P.O. Box 7360, West Trenton, NJ 08628; 609-883-9500). About the cover: This photo shows Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner addressing elected and environmental leaders along with other interested watershed stakeholders at an event held in Wilmington on Sept. 13, 2004 to celebrate the completion of the Water Resources Plan for the Delaware River Basin (“Basin Plan”). Also pictured (from left to right) are Joe DiBello (National Park Service), Donald S. Welsh (U.S. EPA, Region III), Jane M. Kenny (U.S. EPA, Region II), Brigadier General Merdith W.B. Temple, (DRBC Federal Representative), New Jersey DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell (Governor McGreevey’s alternate on the DRBC), Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll (representing Governor Rendell), and New York State DEC Division of Water Assistant Director Fred R. Delaware River Basin Commission DELAWARE NEW JERSEY Nuffer (Governor Pataki’s alternate on the DRBC and commission chair). Additional information about the PENNSYLVANIA NEW YORK Basin Plan can be found on page eight of this report. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A morning view of the fog rising over the Delaware River at Narrowsburg, N.Y. (Photo by David B. Soete, October 2004) Contents Executive Director’s Message . 2 Signatory Members . 4 Delaware Pennsylvania New York New Jersey Federal Government Commission Officers Commission Staff. 6 Welcome Aboard Retirements Promotion Staff Goodbyes Other Noteworthy People News Basin Plan Officially Adopted in September 2004 . 8 Hydrologic Summary . 10 2004: An Active Second Half Includes an Unwelcome Visit from Ivan 2005: A Year of Severe Flooding and a Drought Close Call Interim Fisheries Protection Program Approved in 2004 . .14 DRBC’s Water Quality Initiatives . 16 Lower Delaware Designated as Special Protection Waters Commissioners Establish Innovative New Rule to Reduce PCB Levels Spills on the Delaware . .18 Athos I Oil Spill PPL Fly Ash Release Basin News Briefs . 20 50th Anniversary of Supreme Court Decree Delaware Estuary News Pennsylvania Act 220 Water Resources Planning Interstate Flow Management Strategy Report Issued International Interest in the DRBC Continues NPS Director Experiences the Delaware A Whale of a Tale DRBC Awards Project Application Status Web Page Financial Summary: Cumulative Federal Shortfall Expected to Top $6 Million . 23 Map of the Delaware River Basin. .24 1 Executive Director’s Message By Carol R. Collier As I look back on the two years commissioners also set a goal of covered in this publication, several very reducing PCB loadings by 50% in important accomplishments rise to the five years. top of the long list of activities and projects carried out by the Delaware Over this two-year period, the River Basin Commission: Delaware River Watershed also witnessed firsthand the effects of • The September 2004 signing natural and man-made events that ceremony in Wilmington, Del. triggered intensive responses from marking the completion of the federal, state, and local government four-year process to develop the agencies, including the DRBC, and “Water Resources Plan for the continue to require our collective Delaware River Basin,” a 30-year, attention in seeking better ways to goal-based framework that will protect the public and our water serve as a guide for all governmental resources. During September 2004 and non-governmental stakeholders and April 2005, the main stem whose actions affect water resources Delaware experienced the worst in the basin. flooding since the historic high water levels witnessed fifty years ago • In a collaborative effort to protect during August 1955. Two significant the tailwater fisheries below pollution incidents – the November New York City’s Delaware River 2004 Athos I oil spill and the August Basin reservoirs, and after years 2005 PPL fly ash incident – reminded of intensive negotiations, a three- us that our river has many users year interim program to provide existing side-by-side, and that we must additional water for fisheries be ever vigilant to protect it for the protection was approved by the benefit of all. DRBC in April 2004. Unfortunately, our continued efforts over 2004 and 2005 to educate the • Based on water quality data U.S. Congress about the unique, vital collected from 2000 through 2004, role played by the DRBC and the need the DRBC in 2005 temporarily to restore the federal government’s classified the 76-mile stretch of the 20 percent contribution towards non-tidal lower Delaware River the commission’s annual operating between the Delaware Water Gap budget proved unsuccessful. With no National Recreation Area to the federal contribution in sight during head of tide at Trenton, N.J. as the DRBC fiscal year that began on Special Protection Waters (SPW). July 1, 2005, the cumulative federal The entire 197-mile non-tidal shortfall is expected to grow to $6.4 Delaware River is now covered by million, more than the size of the the DRBC’s SPW anti-degradation commission’s annual operating budget. regulations intended to “keeping the We are grateful to the members of the clean water clean.” basin’s congressional delegation who have tried to restore federal funding. • The DRBC unanimously adopted We also thank the many individuals a rule in May 2005 to establish and organizations who have contacted “pollutant minimization plans” for their federal legislators on our behalf. point and non-point discharges of DRBC staff accomplished much PCBs in the Delaware Estuary. The during 2004 and 2005, as will be 2 explained in this report, but we would levels of government, especially on the range of conditions, not have been able to do more if federal municipal government. averages. funding had been restored. As we work together to achieve the • Downstream water suppliers are • We do not know all the answers. goals and objectives contained in the dependent on the actions of other A strong base of science is needed 30-year basin plan – thereby protecting upstream users. to support good decision making. our water resources and enhancing our Any river management plan must quality of life throughout the basin – • There is not enough water in the be flexible, so the parties can adapt let us follow a few basic truths which, Delaware River Basin to support as new scientific information and borrowing from Thomas Jefferson, all uses during another drought of management alternatives become water managers hold to be self evident: record. available. • Water does not respect political • Floods will occur. We cannot Once again, due to staffing boundaries. stop the flood waters, but we can constraints caused by the loss of reduce the losses and damages full signatory funding support of • Water should be managed on a from flooding. A flood plain is a the DRBC’s operating budget, this watershed basis. What happens on natural extension of a river and it report is covering a two-year period. the land affects streams and rivers. will flood. We need to keep people We hope to return to a single year One cannot manage water without out of harm’s way as we search for publication when we publish the managing the land. solutions. 2006 annual report. I encourage you to regularly visit our web site at • Water management is not • The Delaware River system is www.drbc.net for useful and timely unilateral; it is a collaborative sensitive and can change quickly. information, as well as use the many process. We need to engage all We need to base our decisions web links appearing in this report. DRBC Honors Pioneering Ecologist The DRBC in December 2005 named its to- be-developed office building courtyard the “Ruth Patrick River Garden” in honor of the world-renowned environmental scientist and Philadelphia resident. “Dr. Ruth Patrick’s outstanding career with The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia has spanned seven decades and her work has set the standard for how the environmental health of rivers and streams is evaluated,” DRBC Chairman Kevin C.

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