Water quality, habitat focus of new agreement

Federal, state and regional officials renewed an agreement Friday afternoon that pushes ahead with a comprehensive cleanup of the tidal Delaware River and Bay.

The first such agreement, signed in 1996, targeted basic goals for the once environmentally troubled Delaware River and Bay.

The latest agreement, to span the next seven years, will encourage the signers from the Environmental Protection Agency Region III to the Delaware River Basin Commission, to the city of Philadelphia and from Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to target three broad goals aimed at improving the waters and adjacent lands.

Among the targets for improvement: healthier water quality and species diversity, the health of communities with proactive land use and planning to allow better access and recreation and healthy habitats such as the wetlands that boundary much of the estuary, said Jennifer Adkins, executive director of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, the regional organization that oversees the effort to improve the waterway.

The river was once so polluted that spawning fish like shad, herring and striped bass couldn’t successfully make spring spawning runs. Oxygen levels were so low they couldn’t make it past a dead zone. Pollution spewed into the river and iconic species like Atlantic Sturgeon where fished to near extirpation.

The Clean Water Act prompted large municipal waste water dischargers like Wilmington and Philadelphia to reduce pollution discharges into the river and set limits for industrial discharge and cooling water uses.

In recent years, state, regional and federal officials have tackled legacy pollution from dozens of factories that once lined the waterway.

Some 15 million people depend upon the river basin for drinking water and seven million people live within the estuary – which includes the area from Trenton, New Jersey, south to Lewes where Delaware Bay flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Delaware Bay is of global significance because of the food web link between spawning horseshoe crabs and migratory shorebirds.

“This collaboration between agencies is absolutely vital to the continued improvement of the Delaware River and Bay,” Adkins said. “Whereas other regions might compete for a river’s resources, this ensures Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania all work together to not only reduce costs, but also leverage more funding than each can offer individually. In short, it’s exactly what’s right with government.”

For Delaware officials, the river and bay are important resources and are part of a new Delaware Bayshore Initiative aimed at protecting critical habitats and encouraging passive outdoor recreation like hiking, biking and wildlife observation.

“The Delaware Estuary is an important economic, cultural and recreational resource that encompasses large areas in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania,” said Delaware Environmental Secretary David Small.

“While we’ve made great strides in improving water quality over the past several years, there is more work to do to achieve a truly drinkable, fishable, and swimmable estuary. This agreement renews our shared goals of cleaner water and helps ensure that we work collaboratively and efficiently to continue the recovery of this vital natural resource.”

Small said that the agreement reinforces the collaborative relationship between the estuary partners.

The nonprofit partnership oversees the improvement planning for the estuary and keeps track of the goals and milestones.

Adkins said she sees the partnership’s role as similar to a player-coach on a sports league. The organization is a player but it also guides and manages the cleanup effort, she said.

Contact Molly Murray at 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/...ment/19968653/


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