~ Water Resources Association ~

Water Resource Associations of the Delaware River Basin

Winter '05

Chairman's Message

On November 26 a tanker, the Athos I, spilled an estimated 473,000 gallons of Venezuelan heavy crude oil into the Delaware River near Paulsboro, NJ. The spill spread to cover 126 miles of Delaware River shoreline in three states, from the Tacony Palmyra Bridge to the lower Bay. The single-hulled tanker's bottom was ripped open in two places, apparently by a large pump housing dropped and left on the bed of the channel sometime earlier.

Waterfowl and fish damage are extensive, despite the rapid discovery and response to the spill. Over twenty miles of booms have been placed to protect the nearby Tinicum Wildlife Refuge, the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, Pea Patch Island and other shoreline areas. The cleanup of this worst recorded spill on the Delaware will take months, and the environmental impacts are likely to be present for years.

River traffic was shut down and the Port of Philadelphia was closed to shipping for three days as a result of the spill. Two units at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant were shut down and many other water intakes and facilities were surely affected. Vessels traveling through the spill area have to be decontaminated. (For more see www.ocean.udel.edu/oilspill.)

The cleanup of the record spill of crude oil into the Delaware River brings together a large number of federal and state agencies, including the Coast Guard, the Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the DRBC which has authority over cleanup standards, and the three state environmental agencies. Fifteen hundred workers are reported to be engaged in the cleanup. But after the emergency, what is the legal framework for handling the spill and cleanup consequences?

A federal fund pays for response costs of cleanup in the first instance, up to $1 billion. The vessel owner (subject to a limit on liability based on the size of the vessel) and any other responsible parties are liable for these costs under the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). Vessels must maintain insurance that meets OPA requirements. However, an innocent vessel owner who cooperates with authorities may avoid paying for the cleanup, and may be able to claim reimbursement from the federal fund for the damage to his vessel and his lost earnings.

OPA also provides liability for natural resource damages, which refer generally to short or long term injuries that are not corrected in the cleanup. And OPA imposes spill penalties of up to $1,000 per barrel.

In line with most environmental laws, OPA and its limit on liability do not preempt state law. So Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania laws for the government and private parties to recover response casts, damages and penalties are triggered. Also, although general liability and property damage insurance policies exclude environmental claims, some enterprises and individuals may have environmental impairment liability policies to help defray their losses.

Injured parties can be expected to proceed in several different courts, against both responsible parties and their insurers, multiplying the litigation potential of the event. The oil will be gone long before the final curtain descends on the economic aspects of this drama.

Around the Basin: The Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership

The advent of NPDES Phase II has brought a new direction to stormwater management design. Volume and quality have joined peak flow as design parameters, radically changing the design approach of the profession. Design elements used to mitigate these effects are termed Best Management Practices (BMPs). The design, performance, and maintenance of BMPs are still emerging as recognized by Pennsylvania's Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Reduction Strategy (PaDEP 1996), the Pennsylvania Handbook of Best Management Practices for Developing Areas (PACD 1998), and the EPA manual on Urban Stormwater Performance Monitoring (2002). Newer design practices have turned to volume control and infiltration to replace lost recharge, to reduce the increased runoff caused by the loss of evapotranspiration, and to reduce non-point source pollutants. Peak flows and stream bank erosion are evaluated on a watershed instead of a site by site basis. Recognizing the radical nature of theses changes and the need to study methods to meet these goals, Villanova University in collaboration with PaDEP created the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership in 2002.

Mission Statement: The mission of the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership is to advance the evolving comprehensive stormwater management field and to foster the development of public and private partnerships through research on innovative SWM Best Management Practices, directed studies, technology transfer and education.

* Research and directed studies will emphasize comprehensive watershed stormwater management planning, implementation, and evaluation.
* Technology transfer will provide tools, guidance and education for the professional.
* Partnership Goal is to promote cooperation amongst the private, public and academic sectors.

The partnership is focusing on the three mission goals of Research, Technology Transfer and Partnership. For research we are studying the long term performance of multiple Best Management Practices constructed on the university property. Each site is instrumented to facilitate study of runoff volume, peak flow and quality. This effort has been incorporated within the EPA National Monitoring Program (319 nonpoint source program) and has received national attention. For Technology Transfer the VUSP hosts several conferences to include the heavily attended Pennsylvania Stormwater Symposium, and has developed a website on all its projects. Partnership is through all of these efforts, and through the board of directors. The Board sets the direction for the VUSP, and includes both public and private sector representatives. Public sector members include state and local representatives of PADEP, EPA III, DRBC, Conservation Districts, and County Planning Commissions. Private sector members include our Primary Members (Cahill Associates Inc, McCormick Taylor, Weston Solutions, as well as our Members (O'Brien and Gere, F.X.Browne, and Momenee & Associates). See our website for recent additions.

- Robert Traver, Ph.D

(Dr. Traver is the Director of the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and serves as a member of WRA's Board of Directors.
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DRBC and AWWA Look for Utility Partners to Test Software

The DRBC has been exploring new approaches for tracking and accounting for water use that can help control unnecessary water and revenue loss in drinking water systems. One approach of particular interest to the Commission has been developed jointly by the International Water Association (IWA) and the American Water Works Association (AWWA). The DRBC is looking for small to medium sized utilities to participate in beta testing of water audit software designed to help utility managers identify both valid water consumption and unnecessary water loss.

The North American water industry has traditionally operated without consistent standards for water accounting and, not surprisingly, incurs high loss of both its treated water and a portion of the revenue to which it is entitled. With some water utilities billing sales of half or less of the total water they manage, it is essential that the industry, policy makers and regulators place an emphasis on sound water accounting and loss control.

The DRBC, through its Water Management Advisory Committee, is working with the AWWA’s Water Loss Control Committee who will be testing the software nationwide. The new water accounting methods being explored represent advancements in technology and policy and are endorsed by AWWA as current best management practices in the emerging discipline of water loss control.

Participation in the software testing would involve entering data related to the utility’s water distribution system into an Excel-based spreadsheet program. The aim of the testing process, which is scheduled to be carried out in March and April 2005, is to evaluate the functionality of the software and its ease of use.

If your utility is interested in participating, or you would like more information please contact David Sayers (609) 883-9500 x236 of the Commission staff, or George Kunkel (215) 685-9635 of Philadelphia Water Department.

An Innovative Approach to Educating the Public on Stormwater Runoff

With the advent of the EPA’s storm water Phase II rule municipalities large and small find themselves burdened with the difficult task of complying with the un-funded mandate. One increasingly popular method of satisfying a part of the “Public Education and Outreach” Best Management Practice (BMPs) is through the use of permanently marked “Dump No Waste-Drains to Waterways” construction castings. In Caln Township, Chester County they have adopted a resolution that states that all new curb inlets will have a 24” x 5” cast iron plate cast into the top with a fish logo and “Dump No Waste Drains to Waterways” marked on the casting. They also require all storm water manhole covers to have similar wording as well as the fish logo in the center of the cover. Jeffrey W. McClintock, P.E., Township Engineer says, “We have a great deal of growth and development occurring in the township. We are shouldered with the maintenance of the storm water systems from this growth in the years to come. However, by passing this resolution and requiring these castings on all new development we hope to save the township substantial time, labor and money in our efforts to undertake the NPDES Phase II requirements. Our new curb inlets and storm covers will be permanently marked and we will be educating the public about our storm water, all at little or no cost to the township” Other municipalities that have implemented similar specification requirements are South Whitehall, Allentown & Aston.

East Jordan Iron Works produces the above-mentioned castings as well as many other castings and drainage products to assist municipalities in gaining NPDES Phase II compliance. Please visit their website at www.ejiw.com or call them toll free at
1-800-325-3549 for all of your storm water management products.

Inside DRBC

Heavy rains, flooding and a major oil spill this fall have wreaked havoc on the Delaware from Delaware Bay to the headwaters of the mainstem and most tributaries. Ironically, DRBC’s service reduction plan calls for a reduction in activity of its Flood Advisory Committee. DRBC may rethink that given the problems this fall.

Several critical decisions by the Commissioners may be made at their January 19, 2005 meeting. Both the proposal for the Special Protection Water designation on the lower Delaware River (Trenton to the Delaware Water Gap) and the requirement for a Pollutant Minimization Plan for the PCB TMDL may be voted on depending on the comments received during the public comment period. In addition, the Commission will hold a public hearing to receive comments on a proposed amendment to the Commission's administrative procedure and fee schedule for the renewal of project approvals and an amendment related to the coordinated operation of lower basin and hydroelectric reservoirs during a basinwide drought.

DRBC is continuing to struggle with funding shortfalls from the federal government who has abrogated their responsibility under the Compact to provide a portion of the funds for DRBC operation. DRBC was hopeful that the recent Omnibus Bill would include funds to support the three interbasin Commissions but no such funds were approved despite heavy lobbying by DRBC, signatory states, Basin stakeholders (including WRA) and good support from Senator Specter (R-PA). On a positive note, Bill Gast of PADEP reported at the December 2004 Water Management Advisory Committee meeting that DRBC would receive funding under PA Act 220 to develop water demand projections for Pennsylvania. This funding could continue into future years.

The Water Resources Plan for the Delaware River Basin was signed in September 2004 and is now in the implementation phase. It was reported that the DRBC management staff held a retreat shortly after the signing event to initiate the development of a roadmap for future activities. As a result, the various key result areas have been parceled up and assigned to various DRBC standing committees to begin to identify implementation strategies and responsibilities. In addition, DRBC’s Watershed Advisory Council, which was instrumental in the development phase of the Plan, may be reconstituted in some way to oversee the overall implementation.

Lastly, a Request for Proposal has been released by DRBC to develop water demand projection methodologies for six water use sectors. Proposals were due on December 29, 2004.
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