http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/nyregion/02water.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=nyregion&pagewanted=print
The New York Times
October 2, 2007
City Agrees to Help Regulate Delaware River by Releasing Water From Reservoirs
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Under intense pressure from anglers, environmentalists and angry residents of downstream communities devastated by floods three years in a row, New York City has agreed to change the way it operates its huge Delaware River reservoirs.
The city started a practice yesterday that is to continue at least through the next three years, releasing up to a total of 35 million gallons a day from three of its largest reservoirs into the Delaware River to maintain regular temperatures and water levels in the river.
Many fly fishermen supported the new plan because they said it would protect the river’s brown and rainbow trout, which attract fishermen from around the world and have become an important part of the local economy. Some environmentalists say that by making regular releases of water, the city will be restoring some of the Delaware’s natural rhythms and flows.
But many residents of riverside communities in four states along the 330 miles of the Delaware are unhappy with the plan and critical of the way the changes were accepted in secret at a meeting last week of representatives of New York City and the four states: New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. They said the plan would do little to prevent or even mitigate the kind of catastrophic floods that swept down the river in 2004, 2005 and 2006, causing several deaths and millions of dollars in property damage.
Community groups have collected 12,000 signatures demanding that New York City permanently lower the levels of the Cannonsville, Pepacton and Neversink Reservoirs to 80 percent of capacity so that stormwater runoff can have a place to go rather than charging down the river in flash floods. They said that would have lessened the effect of the last three floods.
A large scroll containing the 12,000 signatures was presented last week at a public hearing of the Delaware River Basin Commission, the body established in 1961 to oversee the water resources of the area.
“We look to you to protect all of us, not just New York City,” said Eleanor Miller, a resident of New Hope, Pa. “All we ask is that you do your job.”
About 200 people attended the public hearing, but were surprised to find that a decision had already been reached on the new water management plan.
“What a weasel of a deal,” said Elaine Reichart, a resident Belvidere, N.J., and member of Aquatic Conservation Unlimited, a community group demanding that the city lower its Delaware River reservoirs.
Under the terms of a 1954 decree by the United States Supreme Court, New York City is allowed to take up to 800 million gallons of water a day from the Delaware River. But the decree also requires the city to ensure that there is enough water left in the Delaware to adequately supply downstream communities like Trenton and Philadelphia, which also draw drinking water from the river.
The flow of water downstream also has to be strong enough to keep ocean saltwater from coming so far up Delaware Bay that it threatens freshwater intakes that supply Philadelphia.
New York has adamantly resisted lowering its Delaware River reservoirs by 20 percent all year long. Paul Rush, director of West Hudson operations for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, which runs the water system, said the three Delaware River reservoirs were now below 70 percent of capacity. If they had been lowered at the beginning of this summer, he said, the city would be close to a drought warning now.
“Maintaining a 20 percent void in the reservoirs would pose a large risk to the water supply,” Mr. Rush said.
The new plan would lessen flood risk somewhat, Mr. Rush said, because the city would release more water during wet periods than it does now, creating space for stormwater runoff in the reservoirs.
He conceded that the most critical time of the year for flooding, the spring, was also when the city would be trying to store as much water as possible for the peak summer period.
Until the new plan took effect, the city had to maintain excess water in its Delaware reservoirs to be released when the temperature of the river water rose too high and threatened the trout, which require cold water and strong flows. State conservation officials could order the city to release cold water from the bottom of the reservoirs, lowering temperatures and increasing flows.
The new plan, with its regular releases throughout the year, is intended to change that. “This takes us away from the piecemeal, bit by bit approach,” said Cathleen Curran Myers, the Pennsylvania representative on the basin commission. “It may not be perfect, but it gives up a good framework within which to look at the whole picture.”
Under the terms of the 1954 Supreme Court decree, certain changes can be made by the unanimous consent of the four states and New York City. But the regulations enforcing those changes must be approved by the commission.
Although the new plan went into effect on an interim basis yesterday, the commission will take public comment for several months and hold a formal public hearing before voting next year on the new regulations.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
October 2, 2007
City Agrees to Help Regulate Delaware River by Releasing Water From Reservoirs
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Under intense pressure from anglers, environmentalists and angry residents of downstream communities devastated by floods three years in a row, New York City has agreed to change the way it operates its huge Delaware River reservoirs.
The city started a practice yesterday that is to continue at least through the next three years, releasing up to a total of 35 million gallons a day from three of its largest reservoirs into the Delaware River to maintain regular temperatures and water levels in the river.
Many fly fishermen supported the new plan because they said it would protect the river’s brown and rainbow trout, which attract fishermen from around the world and have become an important part of the local economy. Some environmentalists say that by making regular releases of water, the city will be restoring some of the Delaware’s natural rhythms and flows.
But many residents of riverside communities in four states along the 330 miles of the Delaware are unhappy with the plan and critical of the way the changes were accepted in secret at a meeting last week of representatives of New York City and the four states: New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. They said the plan would do little to prevent or even mitigate the kind of catastrophic floods that swept down the river in 2004, 2005 and 2006, causing several deaths and millions of dollars in property damage.
Community groups have collected 12,000 signatures demanding that New York City permanently lower the levels of the Cannonsville, Pepacton and Neversink Reservoirs to 80 percent of capacity so that stormwater runoff can have a place to go rather than charging down the river in flash floods. They said that would have lessened the effect of the last three floods.
A large scroll containing the 12,000 signatures was presented last week at a public hearing of the Delaware River Basin Commission, the body established in 1961 to oversee the water resources of the area.
“We look to you to protect all of us, not just New York City,” said Eleanor Miller, a resident of New Hope, Pa. “All we ask is that you do your job.”
About 200 people attended the public hearing, but were surprised to find that a decision had already been reached on the new water management plan.
“What a weasel of a deal,” said Elaine Reichart, a resident Belvidere, N.J., and member of Aquatic Conservation Unlimited, a community group demanding that the city lower its Delaware River reservoirs.
Under the terms of a 1954 decree by the United States Supreme Court, New York City is allowed to take up to 800 million gallons of water a day from the Delaware River. But the decree also requires the city to ensure that there is enough water left in the Delaware to adequately supply downstream communities like Trenton and Philadelphia, which also draw drinking water from the river.
The flow of water downstream also has to be strong enough to keep ocean saltwater from coming so far up Delaware Bay that it threatens freshwater intakes that supply Philadelphia.
New York has adamantly resisted lowering its Delaware River reservoirs by 20 percent all year long. Paul Rush, director of West Hudson operations for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, which runs the water system, said the three Delaware River reservoirs were now below 70 percent of capacity. If they had been lowered at the beginning of this summer, he said, the city would be close to a drought warning now.
“Maintaining a 20 percent void in the reservoirs would pose a large risk to the water supply,” Mr. Rush said.
The new plan would lessen flood risk somewhat, Mr. Rush said, because the city would release more water during wet periods than it does now, creating space for stormwater runoff in the reservoirs.
He conceded that the most critical time of the year for flooding, the spring, was also when the city would be trying to store as much water as possible for the peak summer period.
Until the new plan took effect, the city had to maintain excess water in its Delaware reservoirs to be released when the temperature of the river water rose too high and threatened the trout, which require cold water and strong flows. State conservation officials could order the city to release cold water from the bottom of the reservoirs, lowering temperatures and increasing flows.
The new plan, with its regular releases throughout the year, is intended to change that. “This takes us away from the piecemeal, bit by bit approach,” said Cathleen Curran Myers, the Pennsylvania representative on the basin commission. “It may not be perfect, but it gives up a good framework within which to look at the whole picture.”
Under the terms of the 1954 Supreme Court decree, certain changes can be made by the unanimous consent of the four states and New York City. But the regulations enforcing those changes must be approved by the commission.
Although the new plan went into effect on an interim basis yesterday, the commission will take public comment for several months and hold a formal public hearing before voting next year on the new regulations.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
