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Flow plan a big step
New agreement could help Delaware River trout
By FRED LEBRUN
Click byline for more stories by writer.
First published: Thursday, October 4, 2007
After decades of anguish over how much water being released over three New York City watershed reservoirs into the Delaware River is sufficient to support the ecosystem, fishermen find a new flow plan agreed to Wednesday encouraging.
Not the last word or the best deal or even what they'd hoped to get -- but encouraging.
"This is a step in the right direction for protecting the ecological integrity of the Upper Delaware while protecting water supply for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York City," said Delaware River Foundation president Jim Serio, a member of a broad conservation coalition involved in negotiations.
Serio is a longtime guide on the river and one of its more outspoken advocates. But you'll note he's talking about a step but not the final solution.
Still, it is a significant step forward. For years, the bad actor in negotiations for more water to keep gasping trout and their friends alive was the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. The city, buttressed by a 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing them to take 800 million gallons a day from the Delaware, turned a deaf ear to upstate pleas for ample and predictable water flows to protect the valuable trout fishery. The trout fishery is the mainstay of the river corridor's economics in terms of tourism.
Typically the city would keep sub-minimum flows going during the winter, hoarding water, when the trout and the ecology of the river were most vulnerable. Reservoirs were kept as close to 100 percent as possible, while water was released unpredictably and periodically for the maintenance of the reservoirs with little concern for the fishery.
But an adverse consequence of this practice was the lack of any buffering capacity by the reservoirs, the Cannonsville, Pepacton and Neversink, to mitigate sudden downpours. Major floods the past three years devastated downstream, through New York and Pennsylvania, causing multiple deaths and millions in damages. The pressure those floods brought -- along with a more enlightened DEP approach -- has led to concessions by the city.
Under the newest flow regimens, on average up to 35 million gallons a day will be available for release year-round. The computer model embraced for this flow shows this is enough to maintain the semblance of a normal, natural stream.
Persistent critics scoff at the computer model and say the new flows don't come close to where they should be. Even those applauding the new interim flow agreement, including Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, admit this is not their favorite computer model or all they hoped it would be.
But given the numbers of stakeholders who have a say in negotiations, it's a marvel we've taken even this step. The states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania -- along with New York City -- all have a voice and a veto.
Then there's a host of pressure groups from oystermen to northern Jersey developers hungry for water having their say, too, through their state reps. Any changes have to be approved unanimously by the consortium, which together comprise the Delaware River Basin Commission.
Former Department of Environmental Conservation New York City watershed inspector general Jim Tierney, who now heads the DEC division of water, says on balance the interim flow plan, which will be watched and tweaked, is a good deal for the river and for all of the stakeholders.
"Negotiations were fierce for months over this," says Tierney. "A lot of credit goes to Paul Rush of the DEP for getting it done. Essentially, the result is we will control far better the water that was going over the dam anyway to reflect natural flow. Our biologists are saying the West Branch especially -- but also the East Branch and Neversink -- will show vast improvement.
"At the same time, Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York City will get all the water they need."
By creating space in the reservoirs, a buffer should also be established to mitigate the horrendous floods recently endured, Tierney added.
There remain many downstream residents in New Jersey and Pennsylvania irritated that this new arrangement does not lower the reservoirs lower, to 80 percent of capacity, in order to provide even better flood insurance. But the DEP's Rush has countered that such a level could put the city at risk of a drought warning if we have an unusually dry summer that naturally lowers the reservoirs, as happened this year.
The new regimen went into effect Oct. 1 as an interim flow management plan. The commission will now go through a long process of public comment and formal public hearings before voting sometime next year to make it permanent. In the meantime, advocates, those mildly applauding, and critics alike will be watching to see how it works.
Fred LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2007, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
timesunion.com
Flow plan a big step
New agreement could help Delaware River trout
By FRED LEBRUN
Click byline for more stories by writer.
First published: Thursday, October 4, 2007
After decades of anguish over how much water being released over three New York City watershed reservoirs into the Delaware River is sufficient to support the ecosystem, fishermen find a new flow plan agreed to Wednesday encouraging.
Not the last word or the best deal or even what they'd hoped to get -- but encouraging.
"This is a step in the right direction for protecting the ecological integrity of the Upper Delaware while protecting water supply for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York City," said Delaware River Foundation president Jim Serio, a member of a broad conservation coalition involved in negotiations.
Serio is a longtime guide on the river and one of its more outspoken advocates. But you'll note he's talking about a step but not the final solution.
Still, it is a significant step forward. For years, the bad actor in negotiations for more water to keep gasping trout and their friends alive was the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. The city, buttressed by a 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing them to take 800 million gallons a day from the Delaware, turned a deaf ear to upstate pleas for ample and predictable water flows to protect the valuable trout fishery. The trout fishery is the mainstay of the river corridor's economics in terms of tourism.
Typically the city would keep sub-minimum flows going during the winter, hoarding water, when the trout and the ecology of the river were most vulnerable. Reservoirs were kept as close to 100 percent as possible, while water was released unpredictably and periodically for the maintenance of the reservoirs with little concern for the fishery.
But an adverse consequence of this practice was the lack of any buffering capacity by the reservoirs, the Cannonsville, Pepacton and Neversink, to mitigate sudden downpours. Major floods the past three years devastated downstream, through New York and Pennsylvania, causing multiple deaths and millions in damages. The pressure those floods brought -- along with a more enlightened DEP approach -- has led to concessions by the city.
Under the newest flow regimens, on average up to 35 million gallons a day will be available for release year-round. The computer model embraced for this flow shows this is enough to maintain the semblance of a normal, natural stream.
Persistent critics scoff at the computer model and say the new flows don't come close to where they should be. Even those applauding the new interim flow agreement, including Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, admit this is not their favorite computer model or all they hoped it would be.
But given the numbers of stakeholders who have a say in negotiations, it's a marvel we've taken even this step. The states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania -- along with New York City -- all have a voice and a veto.
Then there's a host of pressure groups from oystermen to northern Jersey developers hungry for water having their say, too, through their state reps. Any changes have to be approved unanimously by the consortium, which together comprise the Delaware River Basin Commission.
Former Department of Environmental Conservation New York City watershed inspector general Jim Tierney, who now heads the DEC division of water, says on balance the interim flow plan, which will be watched and tweaked, is a good deal for the river and for all of the stakeholders.
"Negotiations were fierce for months over this," says Tierney. "A lot of credit goes to Paul Rush of the DEP for getting it done. Essentially, the result is we will control far better the water that was going over the dam anyway to reflect natural flow. Our biologists are saying the West Branch especially -- but also the East Branch and Neversink -- will show vast improvement.
"At the same time, Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York City will get all the water they need."
By creating space in the reservoirs, a buffer should also be established to mitigate the horrendous floods recently endured, Tierney added.
There remain many downstream residents in New Jersey and Pennsylvania irritated that this new arrangement does not lower the reservoirs lower, to 80 percent of capacity, in order to provide even better flood insurance. But the DEP's Rush has countered that such a level could put the city at risk of a drought warning if we have an unusually dry summer that naturally lowers the reservoirs, as happened this year.
The new regimen went into effect Oct. 1 as an interim flow management plan. The commission will now go through a long process of public comment and formal public hearings before voting sometime next year to make it permanent. In the meantime, advocates, those mildly applauding, and critics alike will be watching to see how it works.
Fred LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2007, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
