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From the 2/27/2004 News Eagle (Hawley, PA) website:
Gorillas, Trout Fishing
on the Upper Delaware
.................
SOME HISTORY
In what geologists call a “classic freestone stream system,” the Upper Delaware River saw its cold water run in deep, narrow channels, filled with glacial boulders and graded stones for many thousands of years.
Today, besides the heavy silting of the riverbed and wide and shallower stream channels caused by extensive deforestation in the 19th century, the Upper Delaware River is now a radically altered river system.
A US Supreme Court decision created that reality.
Simply put the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that New York had the right to draw millions of gallons of water per day from the Delaware River to satisfy the drinking water needs of New York City. That decision allowed the use of three Upper Delaware Watershed reservoirs (One completed in 1953, one completed in 1954 and the third built from 1955-1967) that help supply New York City’s drinking water and also provide a guaranteed flow in the Delaware of 1,750 cubic feet per second (cfs) at Montague, NJ.
Managing all of this is the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), a consortium of the States of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and the federal government.
“ERRACTIC AND LOW”
Eck, who is also Treasurer of a group called Friends of the Upper Delaware River, echoes his group’s major problem with the DRBC management of the river: “erratic and often low stream flows.”
These are created by low and erratic releases from New York City’s Upper Delaware reservoirs, i.e. the one at Cannonsville. These erratic flows “have placed enormous stress on the river’s ecosystem, and the latest proposed changes to those stream flows can only make that worse,” Eck said.
“The reason that this whole thing is so hard for people to grasp is that when the reservoirs were built, no consideration was ever given to aquatic life other than lip service,” according to Dr. Robert Bachman, former Director of Maryland’s Fish and Wildlife Service,
“It has been only in the past ten years or so that in-stream flows have begun to be taken seriously,” Bachman said, adding: “But if you see the Bush Administration's take on the Snake River salmon and steelhead and the breaching of the dams, you can see that some people still don't get it.”
What Dr. Bachman and Eck are principally concerned about is degradation of the habitat for trout in the Upper Delaware. That degradation is caused by “these erratic stream flows,” Eck said, adding:
“One day you can have 2,000 cfs flowing down the river and the next day you can have 200 cfs flowing down the river.”
HIGHER AVERAGE SOUGHT
What the DRBC has proposed is a new lower standard — down to 225 cfs per day as the bottom end of the flow rate. (See chart on Page One)
Some more history:
The Subcommittee on Ecological Flows (SEF), a subcommittee of the DRBC, has begun a fairly well publicized three to five year process intended to develop an overall flow plan for the entire Delaware basin. Of long-term concern to Friends of the Upper Delaware is that “whatever flows and releases may be proposed for the protection of the trout will, in the final presentation, be vetoed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC/DEP), leaving the fishery in considerably worse shape, years down the road, than it is today,” Eck said.
“Further,” Eck said, “we strongly disagree with the currently promoted “interim” 225 CFS flows that are to be put in place for the next three to five years while these studies are being conducted.”
He explained: “Flows differ from releases in that these include all water (including warm water from tributaries, summer run off, rain, etc.,) coming to the monitoring point (or flow target). Releases account for only the critical cold water coming from the dams. The more warm water that is counted, the less cold water needs to be released to meet even the dangerous 225 cfs target.
“Such a low flow rate would have no cooling effect on water temperature even as close to the Cannonsville Dam as the Town of Hancock, NY. Far more importantly,” Eck added, “in a summer with high air temperatures, the meager 225 cfs flows could prove lethal for both the trout and insect populations.
“It should also be realized that the arguments for relying on the 225 flows are based on a study done over two decades ago that was never entirely implemented. In fact," he continued, "what the study says is a 225 cfs flow would provide enough water for a few trout to move around in, but would not provide adequate water or temperatures for a healthy fishery.
“The study goes on to say that even cold water releases of 325 cfs would be devastating to the fishery. Which begs the question — how could the 225 cfs be based on this study? Which leads to the question that since there is no scientific foundation for the 225 cfs, why not use as the interim flow fate the 600 cfs that the Friends of the Upper Delaware River have been advocating?"
DOING THE MATH
What a healthy river, and one capable of sustaining a world-class trout fishery needs in this particular case, Eck said, “is a constant release from Cannonsville Reservoir of 600 cfs per day, from May 15 through September 15.”
And Dr. Bachman says he has done the math to illustrate that accomplishing this — without negatively impacting New York’s water supply — is not only possible, “it’s easy.”
Dr. Bachman provided the following data: The total capacity of all three Upper Delaware reservoirs is 270.8 billion gallons. If one cubic foot per second equals 646,272 gallons per day, then 600 cfs would equal 387,763,200 gallons per day. For the 120-day period from May through September 15, that amounts to 46 billion gallons — 48 per cent of Cannonsville’s storage, and 17 per cent of total storage in all three reservoirs.
NYC is authorized to divert 800 millions gallons per day, or 292 billion gallons per year — 108 per cent of the total capacity of all three reservoirs.
“So if all three reservoirs are full on May 15 — and if Cannonsville were to release 600 cfs continually from May 15 through September 15 with no inflow at all during this four-month period — the reservoir would be drawn down less than half way for river purposes, (the trout),” Dr. Bachman says.
“Now what's wrong with this picture?” Dr. Bachman asks rhetorically — and then replies: “The ‘fisheries plan’ says it is OK to divert more than 100 per cent of the total capacity of all three reservoirs to NYC, but considers 17 per cent of the capacity too much to protect a world class trout fishery.”
"And that’s absurd,” Eck observed.
HEARING NEXT WEEK
Eck said he plans to appear before the DRBC when it brings its regular meeting to Hawley next week. The points he expects to make on behalf of the Friends of the Upper Delaware are:
“To protect both the wild trout and the cold water ecosystem, we want a guaranteed 600 cfs release, from the Cannonsville Reservoir, from May 15 to September 15. We point out that this rate of release not only protects the fishery, it readily accommodates both wade and drift boat fishermen and in so doing protects local fishing related economies.
“During the less critical winter months, from September 16 to May 14, we seek a guaranteed flow of 300 cfs; adequate for preventing anchor ice and similar threatening problems. To prevent abrupt and dangerous changes in release rates, we maintain that the transition times of these changes must be ramped — or gradually changed.
“We seek a guarantee that the water temperature from Cannonsville downstream to Lordville, not exceed 70 degrees Fahrenheit at any time. We maintain that the new flows being released from the PPL power generating plant on Lake Wallenpaupack, should not be counted towards the Supreme Court mandate of 1,750 CFS at Montague.
“We maintain that, to prevent silt build up, the Cannonsville releases be augmented with releases from the East Branch when Cannonsville levels drop below 30 per cent. Similarly, we call for the locating and correcting of silt entering the West Branch and the upper main stem from feeder streams.
“We call for the development of a mutually agreed upon plan for proportional water release reductions during periods of declared drought. We maintain that during periods of high water or air temperatures, spillage be offset with equal amounts of cold water releases.
“And finally, we maintain that current suggestions to remanage or relabel the waters described above be abandoned and, moreover, these waters safeguarded with guaranteed consistent releases.”
“We’re dealing with that 800-pound New York City gorilla,” Eck repeats, adding: “But this is nonetheless something we feel we must undertake — both for the health of the river and the tremendous fishing economy that the river supports.”
The DRBC’s appearance in Hawley next week will consist of an informational meeting, beginning at about 2 pm Tuesday, March 2, followed by a public hearing to include the issues raised in this article.
A second informal conference and public hearing will be held Wednesday, March 3, beginning at about 3:30 pm. That second hearing will be part of the Commission's regular general business meeting. The meetings and hearings on March 2 and 3 are open to the public and will be held at the PPL Lake Wallenpaupack Environmental Learning Center, Route 6, Hawley.
Web note: Questions about this article should be directed to the reporter at NewsEagle1@aol.com. Comments about this article may be put in the form of a letter to the editor and sent to editor@neagle.com. The letters policy can be found on Page 4 of the newspaper, the Opinion Page.
Gorillas, Trout Fishing
on the Upper Delaware
.................
SOME HISTORY
In what geologists call a “classic freestone stream system,” the Upper Delaware River saw its cold water run in deep, narrow channels, filled with glacial boulders and graded stones for many thousands of years.
Today, besides the heavy silting of the riverbed and wide and shallower stream channels caused by extensive deforestation in the 19th century, the Upper Delaware River is now a radically altered river system.
A US Supreme Court decision created that reality.
Simply put the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that New York had the right to draw millions of gallons of water per day from the Delaware River to satisfy the drinking water needs of New York City. That decision allowed the use of three Upper Delaware Watershed reservoirs (One completed in 1953, one completed in 1954 and the third built from 1955-1967) that help supply New York City’s drinking water and also provide a guaranteed flow in the Delaware of 1,750 cubic feet per second (cfs) at Montague, NJ.
Managing all of this is the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), a consortium of the States of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and the federal government.
“ERRACTIC AND LOW”
Eck, who is also Treasurer of a group called Friends of the Upper Delaware River, echoes his group’s major problem with the DRBC management of the river: “erratic and often low stream flows.”
These are created by low and erratic releases from New York City’s Upper Delaware reservoirs, i.e. the one at Cannonsville. These erratic flows “have placed enormous stress on the river’s ecosystem, and the latest proposed changes to those stream flows can only make that worse,” Eck said.
“The reason that this whole thing is so hard for people to grasp is that when the reservoirs were built, no consideration was ever given to aquatic life other than lip service,” according to Dr. Robert Bachman, former Director of Maryland’s Fish and Wildlife Service,
“It has been only in the past ten years or so that in-stream flows have begun to be taken seriously,” Bachman said, adding: “But if you see the Bush Administration's take on the Snake River salmon and steelhead and the breaching of the dams, you can see that some people still don't get it.”
What Dr. Bachman and Eck are principally concerned about is degradation of the habitat for trout in the Upper Delaware. That degradation is caused by “these erratic stream flows,” Eck said, adding:
“One day you can have 2,000 cfs flowing down the river and the next day you can have 200 cfs flowing down the river.”
HIGHER AVERAGE SOUGHT
What the DRBC has proposed is a new lower standard — down to 225 cfs per day as the bottom end of the flow rate. (See chart on Page One)
Some more history:
The Subcommittee on Ecological Flows (SEF), a subcommittee of the DRBC, has begun a fairly well publicized three to five year process intended to develop an overall flow plan for the entire Delaware basin. Of long-term concern to Friends of the Upper Delaware is that “whatever flows and releases may be proposed for the protection of the trout will, in the final presentation, be vetoed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC/DEP), leaving the fishery in considerably worse shape, years down the road, than it is today,” Eck said.
“Further,” Eck said, “we strongly disagree with the currently promoted “interim” 225 CFS flows that are to be put in place for the next three to five years while these studies are being conducted.”
He explained: “Flows differ from releases in that these include all water (including warm water from tributaries, summer run off, rain, etc.,) coming to the monitoring point (or flow target). Releases account for only the critical cold water coming from the dams. The more warm water that is counted, the less cold water needs to be released to meet even the dangerous 225 cfs target.
“Such a low flow rate would have no cooling effect on water temperature even as close to the Cannonsville Dam as the Town of Hancock, NY. Far more importantly,” Eck added, “in a summer with high air temperatures, the meager 225 cfs flows could prove lethal for both the trout and insect populations.
“It should also be realized that the arguments for relying on the 225 flows are based on a study done over two decades ago that was never entirely implemented. In fact," he continued, "what the study says is a 225 cfs flow would provide enough water for a few trout to move around in, but would not provide adequate water or temperatures for a healthy fishery.
“The study goes on to say that even cold water releases of 325 cfs would be devastating to the fishery. Which begs the question — how could the 225 cfs be based on this study? Which leads to the question that since there is no scientific foundation for the 225 cfs, why not use as the interim flow fate the 600 cfs that the Friends of the Upper Delaware River have been advocating?"
DOING THE MATH
What a healthy river, and one capable of sustaining a world-class trout fishery needs in this particular case, Eck said, “is a constant release from Cannonsville Reservoir of 600 cfs per day, from May 15 through September 15.”
And Dr. Bachman says he has done the math to illustrate that accomplishing this — without negatively impacting New York’s water supply — is not only possible, “it’s easy.”
Dr. Bachman provided the following data: The total capacity of all three Upper Delaware reservoirs is 270.8 billion gallons. If one cubic foot per second equals 646,272 gallons per day, then 600 cfs would equal 387,763,200 gallons per day. For the 120-day period from May through September 15, that amounts to 46 billion gallons — 48 per cent of Cannonsville’s storage, and 17 per cent of total storage in all three reservoirs.
NYC is authorized to divert 800 millions gallons per day, or 292 billion gallons per year — 108 per cent of the total capacity of all three reservoirs.
“So if all three reservoirs are full on May 15 — and if Cannonsville were to release 600 cfs continually from May 15 through September 15 with no inflow at all during this four-month period — the reservoir would be drawn down less than half way for river purposes, (the trout),” Dr. Bachman says.
“Now what's wrong with this picture?” Dr. Bachman asks rhetorically — and then replies: “The ‘fisheries plan’ says it is OK to divert more than 100 per cent of the total capacity of all three reservoirs to NYC, but considers 17 per cent of the capacity too much to protect a world class trout fishery.”
"And that’s absurd,” Eck observed.
HEARING NEXT WEEK
Eck said he plans to appear before the DRBC when it brings its regular meeting to Hawley next week. The points he expects to make on behalf of the Friends of the Upper Delaware are:
“To protect both the wild trout and the cold water ecosystem, we want a guaranteed 600 cfs release, from the Cannonsville Reservoir, from May 15 to September 15. We point out that this rate of release not only protects the fishery, it readily accommodates both wade and drift boat fishermen and in so doing protects local fishing related economies.
“During the less critical winter months, from September 16 to May 14, we seek a guaranteed flow of 300 cfs; adequate for preventing anchor ice and similar threatening problems. To prevent abrupt and dangerous changes in release rates, we maintain that the transition times of these changes must be ramped — or gradually changed.
“We seek a guarantee that the water temperature from Cannonsville downstream to Lordville, not exceed 70 degrees Fahrenheit at any time. We maintain that the new flows being released from the PPL power generating plant on Lake Wallenpaupack, should not be counted towards the Supreme Court mandate of 1,750 CFS at Montague.
“We maintain that, to prevent silt build up, the Cannonsville releases be augmented with releases from the East Branch when Cannonsville levels drop below 30 per cent. Similarly, we call for the locating and correcting of silt entering the West Branch and the upper main stem from feeder streams.
“We call for the development of a mutually agreed upon plan for proportional water release reductions during periods of declared drought. We maintain that during periods of high water or air temperatures, spillage be offset with equal amounts of cold water releases.
“And finally, we maintain that current suggestions to remanage or relabel the waters described above be abandoned and, moreover, these waters safeguarded with guaranteed consistent releases.”
“We’re dealing with that 800-pound New York City gorilla,” Eck repeats, adding: “But this is nonetheless something we feel we must undertake — both for the health of the river and the tremendous fishing economy that the river supports.”
The DRBC’s appearance in Hawley next week will consist of an informational meeting, beginning at about 2 pm Tuesday, March 2, followed by a public hearing to include the issues raised in this article.
A second informal conference and public hearing will be held Wednesday, March 3, beginning at about 3:30 pm. That second hearing will be part of the Commission's regular general business meeting. The meetings and hearings on March 2 and 3 are open to the public and will be held at the PPL Lake Wallenpaupack Environmental Learning Center, Route 6, Hawley.
Web note: Questions about this article should be directed to the reporter at NewsEagle1@aol.com. Comments about this article may be put in the form of a letter to the editor and sent to editor@neagle.com. The letters policy can be found on Page 4 of the newspaper, the Opinion Page.
