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Water Resource Associations of the Delaware River Basin

Oct '09

Recap WRA’s 2009 Fall Conference

The Rutgers EcoComplex near Bordentown, New Jersey was the venue once again for WRA’s 50 Year Anniversary Fall Conference. The conference was entitled “The Stimulus Program and Beyond: A Delaware River Basin Perspective” and was held on Tuesday, October 27.

By most measures, water quality in the Delaware River Basin’s rivers and estuary has improved substantially over the past 50 years. The improvements are the result of actions taken by the federal and state government, industry, public and private water and wastewater utilities, non-government organizations, and the general public. Further improvement in water quality may be needed, but the financial resources available to implement such actions are limited.

The Basin includes four states, major cities, hundreds of municipalities and authorities, and numerous utility companies and industries, each operating within its individual mandates, interests and financial resources. In an ideal world, money spent on water quality improvements would not be based on mandates or the financing available from one program or another, or by requirements of individual jurisdictions or industries, but by using a priority system based on a basin-wide assessment of projects that would produce the greatest and most cost-effective water quality improvements.

The 2009 stimulus program was designed to implement shovel-ready projects. At the same time, on a national level, there is much discussion on refocusing regulatory requirements and project funding from the approach that produces ‘bridges to nowhere‘ to one that will obtain the greatest benefit to society for the dollars allocated.

Kevin Bricke, Deputy Division Director for EPA Region 2, kicked the conference off as our Keynote Speaker.

The subject of the first part of the program was an overview of the water resource related stimulus projects within the Basin. Cathy Curran Myers for PADEP, Stan Cach from NJDEP and Jeff Bross of Duffield Associates representing Delaware’s Clean Water Advisory Council provided the state perspectives.

The objective of the second part of the program was to look forward and address the following question: If there was an opportunity to prioritize the money to be spent by the public and private sectors what would the spending priorities be to generate the greatest sustained improvement in water quality and supply within the Delaware Basin. Bob Tudor, Deputy Executive Director of the Delaware River Basin Commission talked about priorities. Real life examples of programs underway or planned for the future was also discussed by David Warne, Director of Watershed Planning and Protection for the New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection and Howard Nuekrug, Director of the Philadelphia Water Department’s Office of Watersheds.

The third program component addressed energy development initiatives and how “green” technologies could be used to achieve these priorities within the Delaware River Basin. Tom Beauduy, Deputy Director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, discussed the good, the bad and the ugly of energy development activities in watersheds adjacent to the Delaware River Basin. Dennis Palmer, Executive Director for the Landis Sewerage Authority discussed how green technologies were implemented in their wastewater treatment plant. Dr. Rex D’Agostino, President of Greenfutures Inc., concluded the program with a presentation on alternative energy solutions and opportunities for wastewater treatment plants.

As always, the conference provided a great opportunity to network with key state and federal policymakers.

Inside DRBC

Chesapeake Appalachia Hearing Postponed

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has announced that the public hearing previously scheduled for Wednesday, September 23, 2009 on the revised proposed docket for Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC will be re-scheduled to a later date at the request of the applicant to allow the public and the applicant more time to consider the revised draft docket. In its September 15 request to the Commission chairman for postponement, Chesapeake said it is seeking additional time "to review and consider the changes reflected in the revised draft docket for the project" published on the Commission's web site on Friday, September 11. Chesapeake stated that it "has not had adequate time to review the changes reflected in the revised draft docket, particularly with respect to the proposed pass-by flow."

Chesapeake Appalachia applied to the Commission for approval of a surface water withdrawal project to supply a maximum of 29.99 mg/30 days of water for the applicant's exploration and development of natural gas wells in the State of New York and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Surface water is proposed to be withdrawn from the West Branch of the Delaware River at a location known as the Cutrone Site in Buckingham Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania. The project is located in the Delaware River Watershed within the drainage area of the section of the non-tidal Delaware River known as the Upper Delaware, which is designated as Special Protection Waters.

The water withdrawn would be taken by tanker truck to Chesapeake’s gas drilling sites in the Marcellus Shale of northeastern Pennsylvania. Use of the water in the gas drilling operation or related transportation issues are not being considered as part of the docket decision by DRBC. Gas drilling proposals in the Delaware River Basin watershed has created a firestorm of opposition by local residents.

The Commission held a public hearing on an initial draft of docket at its business meeting on July 15, 2009. It heard testimony on the draft docket from approximately 40 witnesses on that date. Voluminous written comment was also submitted on or before the hearing. In light of the high level of public interest in the project, the Commission took no action on the docket on July 15, and on that date it extended the written comment period through July 29, 2009. Approximately 1,200 written comments (excluding petitions) were received on the docket by the close of the comment period. After review and consideration of these comments, the Commission and staff developed a revised draft docket which is posted on the Commission's web site, http://www.drbc.net. The Commission does not plan on discussing or acting on the application at their October 22 meeting.

Federal Funding Restored to DRBC

For the first time since 1996, federal funding has been restored to DRBC. The U.S. Congress approved legislation providing $715,000 to fulfill the federal obligation included in DRBC’s budget. The funding commitment was made a part of the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill signed by President Obama on March 11.

In the late 1950’s, WRA worked with other Basin constituents to establish and fund the Commission. Over the last several years, WRA supported DRBC in its efforts to reinstate their federal funding mandate included in the Delaware River Basin Compact.

Flood Advisory Committee to Present Recommendations

A report delivered by the Floodplain Regulations Evaluation Subcommittee (FRES) to the DRBC Flood Advisory Committee (FAC) on May 19, 2009 reviews and evaluates existing floodplain regulations throughout the Delaware River Basin and presents recommendations for more effective floodplain management to the FAC. The release of the report and its presentation to the FAC do not implement nor recommend a means of implementing new land use regulations.

Following a review of the FRES report, FAC members met on August 26, 2009 to discuss the subcommittee's recommendations. The FAC plans to present its findings and recommendations to the commissioners at the October 22, 2009 DRBC meeting.

Should the commission decide to move forward with any of the recommendations, a full rulemaking process will be conducted with public notice and opportunities for public comment.

The subcommittee was formed at the request of the DRBC commissioners from New Jersey and Pennsylvania to implement recommendation FR-1 of the Delaware River Interstate Flood Mitigation Task Force Action Agenda of July 2007.

The full 65 page report can be found on DRBC’s website, http://www.drbc.net.

PCB Criteria Proposed

DRBC held several public meetings in early October, 2009 to inform the public about proposed regulatory changes to revise human health water quality criterion for PCBs in the Delaware River downstream of Trenton, NJ and the Delaware Bay. An implementation plan for achieving this criterion was also discussed. In addition, the DRBC announced that a formal hearing to accept public testimony on the proposal will be held at 1:30 p.m. on October 8 at the Commission’s office in West Trenton. Unlike the two public informational meetings, this will be an opportunity for the public to offer testimony and will not include formal presentations or a question and answer period. Written comments will be accepted through October 19. Following a review of all public comments, final action by the Commissioners on the proposed rulemaking will likely occur at the DRBC’s December 9, 2009 business meeting.

The current DRBC water quality criteria for PCBs to protect human health in the tidal Delaware were established in 1996, vary by location, and pre-date the collection of additional studies on PCBs in the estuary. DRBC currently has no PCB water quality criterion for the Delaware Bay; however, New Jersey and Delaware have established a criterion of 64 picograms per liter for this water body.

DRBC’s Toxics Advisory Committee completed development of a new human health water quality criterion for PCBs in July 2005. Following more meetings, a small workgroup of DRBC and EPA staff began work on the details of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Implementation Plan for PCBs which was finally completed in 2008.

The revised PCB human health water quality criterion will be used as the basis for the Stage 2 TMDLs that will be developed by DRBC staff and expected to be established by EPA in December 2009. The implementation plan will be included as an appendix to the Stage 2 TMDL report.

For more information about the proposal, meetings and hearing, please visit the DRBC website.

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Chairman's Message

Love it or hate it the Federal Stimulus Program is here to stay. Although the program has been fraught with controversy and discredited by conservative critics, shovel ready projects are being funded and implemented around the Basin that are aimed at improving its water resources and related infrastructure. However, an overarching question still remains as to whether jobs are being created by the stimulus program and whether the economy will improve as a result. WRA’s Fall Conference on October 27 entitled The Stimulus Program and Beyond: A Delaware River Basin Perspective will be looking not only at the stimulus program but energy development and “green” opportunities as they may relate to the Basin’s water resources.

Join us at the Rutgers EcoComplex to hear key state representatives discuss these important Obama Administration driven initiatives that may affect our future. We are very pleased that the speakers participating in the conference come from all four Basin states, represent both the Delaware and Susquehanna River Basin Commissions as well as USEPA. We are particularly pleased that Kevin Bricke, Deputy Division Director of Region 2, will be our keynote speaker.

I am also personally looking forward to the conference because I will be making a presentation and showcasing the green projects the Landis Sewerage Authority has undertaken at our Vineland (NJ) wastewater treatment plant.

For all our members and correspondents, we will be holding a general membership meeting on December 10 at the Inn at Chester Springs in Exton, PA. The meeting will include a business portion and a technical session dealing with recent State (PA, NJ and DE) Water Planning activities. Officers and Board members will also be elected. Whether you are a WRA member or considering membership in WRA please feel free to contact our President Bob Molzahn if you are interested in attending.

As with all WRA events, there will be ample opportunity to visit with your colleagues and agency decision makers. I hope to see all of our members and friends at both events.

- Dennis W. Palmer, P.E., Chairman