The Coalition's Delaware River Release Policy CP 2

There are important changes on the horizon to the management of water releases on the Delaware River from the three upstream reservoirs that supply drinking water to roughly 5 million people in New York City. The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), the body charged with management of this river system, will be voting in May 2007 on a new water release policy that in theory will provide a more sustainable balance between water supply and ecosystem protection. Tragically, it appears as if the DRBC may choose a plan that neglects the health of the upper Delaware River.

As most fishermen from the region know, the headwaters of the Delaware River repeatedly suffer from low and erratic water releases from New York City's dams. This problem has existed since the Supreme Court first partitioned the river in 1931. The three reservoirs impound the East Branch Delaware, West Branch Delaware and Neversink Rivers. Erratic and unreliable releases drive devastating changes in the water levels and water temperatures in these rivers and the upper main stem of the Delaware River, and often when reservoirs are nearly full.

Many fishermen also know that the upper Delaware River is the finest wild trout fishery on the East Coast for large, wild trout. The upper Delaware also provides prime spawning and juvenile rearing habitat for American shad, particularly from Hancock to Callicoon, as does the East Branch Delaware River. The tailwaters below the New York City reservoirs have suffered a tenuous existence because of an arcane, complex, and unscientific system of releases involving a flow target at Montague, New Jersey, and antiquated rules designed to sacrifice all other needs to save water for New York City faucets. Despite this, a fishery that provides millions of dollars a year to the local economies has evolved. And the unique ecology of the upper Delaware struggles to flourish, despite decades of mismanagement.

The DRBC has developed a water release proposal for the three headwater reservoirs that provides more consistent water releases from the reservoirs that adjust by reservoir level and by season. This is the result of an admirable effort. But it falls woefully short of what is needed for a viable fishery. The DRBC plan essentially abandons the main stem of the Delaware River. The plan sets "drought risk" criteria for water supplies that needlessly limits the water volume available to the rivers but provides no real benefits to other users, particularly drinking water supply users in New York City. As a result, the DRBC's proposal provides very little protection for the upper river's valuable wild trout and American shad fisheries.

Over the past year and a half, Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and several local nonprofit organizations have joined in a conservation coalition and have diligently analyzed hydrologic and habitat computer modeling to develop an adaptive water release policy that meets all the interested parties' bottom lines--it is a win-win solution. The coalition's policy, CP2, creates substantial protection for the trout and American shad populations in the main stem upper Delaware River in spring and summer by releasing slightly more water in these seasons when reservoirs are at or above "normal" capacity. Details are found on www.drarp.org.

The conservation coalition's adaptive release policy modifies the DRBC's defined limit of water that they have granted "available" to the ecosystem. CP2, however, does not create additional risk to water supply for New York City, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania. This is the conclusion of the consulting firm hired by DRBC to build the hydrologic model used to test various flow release regimes. In addition, CP2 provides greater flood mitigation by releasing more water in spring and summer than the DRBC proposal, as hurricane season approaches to create on average 14 billion gallons of additional space behind the reservoirs in wet summers to absorb runoff. This is a benefit to downstream communities, ravaged by recent floods, that is not provided under the current DRBC plan. It is truly a "win-win" for the basin. Given the scale of New York City's control over the 120 miles of rivers affected by releases from these dams, it represents an epic opportunity for sound, scientifically-based river management nationally and internationally.

The policy that the coalition has developed more than doubles trout habitat in the spring and summer in the upper Delaware main stem from Hancock to Lordville when compared to the policy proposed by the DRBC. This is not based on projections of future conditions, but is shown by a comparison of actual reservoir and flow data over the last four decades. The benefits to shad are similar, with more than double shad spawning and juvenile shad habitat. When compared to the policy that was in place for decades--essentially a "default" to fill the reservoirs and encourage spilling as much as possible, the CP2 policy creates more than 200 percent to 700 percent additional habitat for trout and shad during some decades.

But the numbers don't tell the whole story. The simple fact is that the rivers benefit from more water in spring and summer. And unless New York City and the down-basin states face a real risk to their water supplies they should have no right to hoard the water.

The conservation coalition has tried to convince the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania that balancing a secure water supply with a more environmentally-enlightened water release policy is to their benefit because of the positive impact to shad, and in turn to striped bass and to the health of the entire basin. Historically, the down-basin states have viewed the New York City reservoir's releases--and the economically valuable trout fishery that has flourished below the reservoirs since their construction--as New York's problem. And because the shad fertilize the upper river with their carcasses, and their abundant eggs and juveniles, an increase in shad populations in the upper river will benefit the entire ecosystem, feeding trout and walleye in the upper reaches, and striped bass in the middle and lower reaches--even into the Delaware Bay.

The stakes are high. The Delaware River's famed wild trout and recovering shad population has the opportunity to begin a new chapter. If New Jersey and Pennsylvania fail to seize this opportunity the recovering shad of the Delaware River will lose. The citizens and communities along the Delaware River in New Jersey and Pennsylvania will lose. And the overall ecosystem of the Delaware basin will lose. Tragically, it will be because of a long-standing resistance to change and reliance on an antiquated management policy that considers only one of many stakeholders in this valuable resource.

The conservation coalition has provided detailed information about CP2, its positive impact on the fishery and the water supply risk assessment made by DRBC's own consultants at its website at www.drarp.org. Please check out the information and the data and support CP2 and demand that the upper Delaware receive the protection that it deserves, and that all the parties can afford.