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Water Resource Associations of the Delaware River Basin

Dec '06

Delaware River Basin Interstate Flood Mitigation Task Force Formed

The newly formed Interstate Flood Mitigation Task Force met for the first time in late October 2006 to begin its work towards recommending a set of comprehensive flood mitigation measures for the Delaware River Basin, which was devastated by severe floods in September 2004, April 2005, and June 2006 following a period of nearly 50 years without any widespread main stem flooding.

The formation of the task force was requested in a September 21 letter to Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Executive Director Carol R. Collier jointly signed by Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, New York Gov. George Pataki, and Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, who also serve as DRBC members. This was followed at a commission meeting on September 27 by the formal adoption of Resolution 2006-19 which was unanimously agreed to by the four states and DRBC Chair Lt. Col. Gwen Baker, who represents the federal government on the five-member commission.

The four governors noted in their letter, “Individually, the Basin states can move forward with policies and regulations to reduce and mitigate the impacts of flooding, but we believe that through coordinated effort on a regional basis, we can do more to reduce flood loss within the Basin than we could accomplish acting separately, on our own. The Delaware River Basin Commission is the obvious vehicle for developing flood loss reduction and flood mitigation plans that cannot be accomplished by any single state or local government but that require a holistic watershed approach. As much as any time since the Commission was created in 1961, now seems an appropriate moment for coordinated action through the DRBC.” The governors offered “the full cooperation of the state emergency management and environmental agencies in this effort” and ambitiously charged the task force to propose a preliminary action plan with recommendations by the close of 2006 “to enable implementation measures to be started as early as possible in 2007.”

The task force is comprised of 30 members including representatives from federal agencies, environmental agencies of the four basin states and New York City, regional agencies, elected and emergency management officials at the federal, state, county, and local level as well as several citizen and academic representatives. “We sought to gain a broad representation of task force members while realizing that involvement of all interested stakeholders in the four states was not possible due to the short time constraint established by our commissioners,” Collier said in a press release. DRBC Deputy Executive Director Robert Tudor is leading the staff support of this effort.

The first meeting focused on plan framework issues, inventorying ongoing initiatives, and discussing work plan needed through the end of the year in order to complete a draft preliminary recommendations report by December 31, 2006. Task force members, with the assistance of DRBC staff, identified several proposed report focus areas and signed up to serve on subgroups that will be concentrating attention in each of these areas. They include: floodwater management (reservoir operations, structural and non-structural mitigation measures, and stormwater management), floodplain management (floodplain mapping, floodplain regulations, and structural and non-structural mitigation measures), and flood warning. For each focus area, task force members agreed to consider the following nine important issues when forming possible recommendations: main stem vs. tributary, interstate (shared water) vs. intrastate, protect built environment vs. planning future development, short term vs. long term, institutional coordination and cooperation, education and outreach, funding needs, legislation that may be required, and tidal vs. non-tidal.

A preliminary action plan was due out by the end of 2006. A public comment period and public meetings are anticipated in early 2007. Additional information about the task force and its accomplishments are posted on the Commission’s web site at www.drbc.net and will be updated as new details become available.

Many thanks to Clarke Rupert, DRBC Communications Manager, for contributing this article.

Perspectives: Can We Control Floods?

When I was a rookie Aquatic Biologist in 1972 and lived in an apartment on the banks of the Schuylkill River, I had little idea of what a flood was. It didn’t take long to find out when Hurricane Agnes came up to eastern PA in June 1972 and hung over us like a maelstrom for two days. Not only were we washed out with a foot of rain, the severe flooding lifted thousands of gallons of thick oil from the Berks Oil Reclamation facility located upstream from the Douglassville Bridge on the Schuylkill River and coated the banks like a bath tub ring almost to Philadelphia. The flooding was bad enough but the oil was devastating to the communities in its path.

Although these impacts can be avoided by good planning, major flooding is in fact a real possibility along the Delaware and its tributaries and will reoccur from time to time. Unfortunately, homes and businesses in flood prone areas will always be vulnerable unless they are removed and relocated to higher ground. As an example, after severe flooding demolished 185 homes in the town of Glenville, Delaware in September 2003, the State made a decision to buy out the residents and restore it to its original function as a floodplain.

No doubt many recommendations will come from the work of the Interstate Commission and some of these may help. However, in the end, unpredictable weather and rainfall patterns will be the ultimate determinant as to the frequency, extent and severity of the flooding event and we will only be able to do so much to control it. – Bob Molzahn, President

WRA Chairman's Message

After an unprecedented third major flood event in three years the governors of the four basin states sent a joint letter to the DRBC, under the date of September 21, 2006. The Delaware Basin was devastated by severe floods in September 2004, April 2005, and June 2006, following a period of nearly 50 years without any widespread main stem flooding. This letter authorized and requested that the DRBC form an interstate task force to develop a set of recommended measures for alleviating and mitigating flooding impacts along the Delaware River.

The kick off meeting was held on October 25, 2006 with about three dozen professionals from throughout the basin (including WRA’s Robert Molzahn) with a focus on the following: Reservoir Operations, Floodplain Mapping, Floodplain Regulations, Structural and Non-structural Mitigation Measures, Flood Warning, Storm water Management, Institutional Coordination and Cooperation, and Education and Outreach.

Individual focus teams were then formed to work on each of the topics. As the meeting came to a close, it was reiterated that the intent of this task force is to prepare a draft preliminary action plan to the Governors by the end of the year and public hearing to be anticipated by early 2007. As the WRA was involved with the recent preparation and adoption of the Water Transfer and Water Accountability White Paper Recommendations, which were are given go-ahead by DRBC on September 27, 2006, we will continue to be involved with this issue.

In addition to monitoring of the ongoing Flood Task Force, the Fall Conference held at the University of Delaware on October 16 was well attended with attendees from all over the basin. Our President, Robert Molzahn, was the Keynote Speaker for the morning session with the entire day being a smorgasbord of technical and environmental issues concerning the Delaware River. Many thanks go to Jerry Kauffman of the University of Delaware’s Water Resources Agency and his staff including Martha Corrozzi for working with Bob and WRA in developing the program and other materials. The Clayton Hall venue at the University of Delaware was impressive, the lunch was great and the speakers were fabulous. More than 150 attended the meeting. WRA sincerely thanks the University of Delaware for excellent cooperation in making this event most successful. -Dennis W. Palmer, P.E., WRA Chairman