~ Water Resources Association ~

Water Resource Associations of the Delaware River Basin

Fall '05

Meet WRA’s New Chairman

WRA’s Board of Directors recently elected Dennis W. Palmer as the new Chairman of WRA through 2007. Dennis has been the Executive Director and Chief Engineer of the Landis Sewerage Authority in Vineland, New Jersey since 1993 and was a member of WRA’s Board from 1994 to 2001. He was also a four- year member of the Executive Committee and served as the Vice Chairman for New Jersey for several years. Dennis holds a Bachelors Degree from Trenton State College and a Master’s Degree from Newark College of Engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, a Licensed Professional Planner in New Jersey, and a licensed Wastewater Plant and Collection Operator in New Jersey. Dennis has been active in numerous organizations throughout the state and, most recently, completed a two year term as the Chairman of the Greater Vineland Chamber of Commerce. Dennis is also intimately familiar with the Delaware River and has spent many days canoeing its various reaches. We welcome Dennis aboard and would like to thank Ken Myers for his service and leadership as our Chairman for the past two years.

Chairman’s Message

As I write my first Chairman’s message to the organization, this new beginning warrants a reflection on the past and for me personally a return this year on many different levels.
First I would like to recognize and thank out going chair Ken Myers for his dedication to the organization and leadership at both the Executive Committee and general Board of Directors meetings. During the last few years under his leadership, the WRA has proven itself to be true to its mission statement of advocating sound water resources planning and management in the basin. Issues surrounding and addressing PCB’s and the DRBC’s Water Resources Plan are just two topics being tackled during Ken’s term. On September 29, 2005 the Board of Directors conducted a review of the Water Resources Plan, with the discussion and review lead by Ken. WRA’s President and Officers need to have more input from WRA members on the importance and impacts of this plan on their business and operations.
I had the privilege to serve on the WRA Board of Directors and the Executive Committee during the middle 1990’s to about 2002 and welcome this opportunity to return to the board and as newly elected chair. This summer I had the chance to return to the upper Delaware River to lead a canoe trip, from Barryville to Matamors, with a handful of Boy Scouts and dads from my troop. What a great opportunity to share with these young men the beauty of this part of the Delaware Basin. The excitement of shooting the rapids at Barryville, Mongaup and Hawk’s Nest and hopefully instilling the values of respect for nature and our water resources was a small lesson I had hoped to pass on. My own environmental engineering interest began on several similar canoe trips 35 years ago covering approximately 100 miles from Narrowsburg NY to Belvidere NJ.
Another item that was developed under Chairman Myers’ tenure was a scholarship program, named after former Chairman and Board member Dr. John Buzzi, as the WRA hopes to foster future water resources professionals. Your WRA not only looks to our present water resources planning and management needs, but as well to the future.
Dennis W. Palmer, P.E. WRA Chairman

Entitlement Hearing Scheduled

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will hold a public hearing at their next meeting to receive comments on proposed amendments to the Commission's Basin Regulations -- Water Supply Charges and Comprehensive Plan concerning certificates of entitlement. No changes in the substance or administration of the rule are proposed. The purpose of the proposed amendments is to clarify the language of the rule to conform to the Commission's past decisions and current practices in order to provide better notice to surface water users as to how the Commission is implementing its entitlements program and to avoid future controversy.
In 1974, the Commission instituted a system of water supply charges for surface water withdrawals within the Basin. That resolution provided for the issuance of certificates of entitlement to then-current water users, establishing the amount of water each could lawfully take from the surface waters of the Basin without charge, consistent with Section 15.1(b) of the Compact. The resolution provided that a certificate of entitlement was not transferable, except under limited circumstances set forth in enumerated exceptions.
Because entitlements treat users that commenced water withdrawals before the enactment of the Compact more favorably than users who commenced water withdrawals later, even though all users benefit equally from the facilities financed by water supply charges, courts and the Commission have emphasized the need to eliminate entitlements over time. Both the Commission and the courts have construed narrowly the exceptions to the rule that entitlements are not transferable, and the Commission has in its decisions consistently held that changes in ownership or control would extinguish a certificate. However, the language of the regulations has never explicitly defined "changes in ownership or control." As a consequence, in the decisions that the Commission has been asked to make in its adjudicatory capacity and that the courts have subsequently been asked to decide, the matter of what constitutes a change of ownership or control has been controversial.
In 1994, DRBC passed an amendment to the 1974 resolution that incorporated an explicit "ownership and/or control" test and eliminated the merger exception included in the Commission's regulations at the time. In addition, the Water Charging Regulations were amended to apply only when the reorganization "does not affect ownership and/or control."
In spite of the 1994 amendment, some members of the Basin’s business community have apparently interpreted the language of the rule in a manner contrary to the Commission's interpretation and court decisions. To avoid further controversy and lawsuits, the Commission is proposing a more thorough revision of the language which is intended to remove any ambiguity.
The public hearing on the proposed rule change will be held on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 at approximately 2:30 p.m. as part of the Commission's regularly scheduled business meeting. If you wish to testify at the hearing please register in advance with the Commission Secretary, Pam Bush, at 609-883-9500, extension 224. Written comments will be accepted through Tuesday, January 10, 2006. For more information on this proposed amendment please visit DRBC’s website at www.drbc.net or call WRA’s office for more information.

Inside DRBC: Basin Plan Implementation Update

It has been a little over a year since the Water Resources Plan for the Delaware River Basin was finalized. The Plan outlines numerous objectives in five Key Result Areas. Although the Delaware River Basin Commission led the effort in developing the Plan, numerous agencies and organizations will be responsible for implementing it. This point is important as there still seems to be confusion within the regulated community as to DRBC’s role versus that of state and local water resources agencies. To address this issue DRBC Staff have gone back to their Compact and its requirements and have created a draft document entitled “Water Resources Program, FY 2006-2012”. The document was distributed at the September 26, 2005 Commissioner’s meeting and is available to the public for review. If you would like to receive a copy please contact the WRA Office and we will send it to you.
DRBC’s Water Management Advisory Committee (WMAC), of which I am Chairman, has established a subcommittee to develop an implementation strategy that deals with the issue of inter-basin and inter-watershed transfers. Such transfers not only include surface and groundwater withdrawals but also discharges that are made into an adjacent watershed. The subcommittee is chaired by Jan Bowers, Executive Director of the Chester County Water Resources Agency, and first met in late September. These issues have the potential to be contentious depending on how they are implemented or if changes are made to the project review process that would further limit such transfers. At this time there is limited participation on the subcommittee by water users who may be effected by such changes. If you or your organization are interested in participating in the subcommittee please contact the WRA office or David Sayers at DRBC. All meetings of the WMAC and the subcommittee are open to the public. The next meeting is on October 25 and will be held at DRBC’s offices in West Trenton.
On a related subject, Bill Muszynski of the Project Review Branch, made a presentation to WMAC at the July meeting on a project he has undertaken to review and possibly revise the project review and docket process. The project will include a review and discussions with each of the signatory states on the content of existing agreements. These agreements were signed in the mid-70’s and predate a number of significant water related regulations on both a federal and state level. Since that time, most states have implemented their own permitting programs and requirements, some of which are redundant or duplicative with the DRBC permitting process. The outcome of this effort could include a streamlining of the DRBC project review process and new agreement with the states which could be beneficial to the regulated community. Obviously, it would be appropriate for other stakeholders, especially those in the regulated community to be heard. Attending the WMAC meetings is one way to keep abreast of any new developments as this project unfolds.
DRBC staff are now finalizing plans to reconvene former members of the Watershed Advisory Council to serve on an at-large steering committee for coordinating Basin Plan implementation activity. Using the regions of the Basin, as delineated on the Basin Plan map, DRBC will attempt to develop an integrated structure for implementation and reporting, possibly through regional representation on the implementation steering committee. The first task will be to identify regional partners and a means of prioritizing issue areas. According to DRBC, emphasis will be on existing organizations, such as the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, the Upper Delaware Council and the Schuylkill Action Network, that are working to improve water resources management in the respective regions. Additionally, DRBC has indicated that emphasis will be placed on increasing reliance on partnerships and electronic communication to minimize the need for meetings.
Finally, if you haven’t visited the DRBC website (www.drbc.net) recently, there is a lot of useful information that is updated on almost a daily basis. If you get a chance, take a look. -Bob Molzahn

Local Industries Impacted by New Clean Water Act

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing regulations under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act. In a three-phase rulemaking, EPA is setting standards and guidelines for requiring that facilities’ cooling water intake structures (CWIS) reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact. Impacts include death or injury to fish and shellfish impinged against trash racks and traveling screens and to eggs and larvae entrained within the cooling system itself. Section 316(b) has been around for over thirty years – ever since the 1972 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. But due to the lack of regulations implementing the law, enforcement has varied widely across the states and EPA regions.
Phase I of the 316(b) regulations became effective in January 2002 and applies to new facilities which withdraw more than 2 mgd of cooling water. Phase II of the 316(b) rulemaking became effective in September 2004 and impacts existing power plants withdrawing more than 50 mgd. Many of the over two dozen power plants in the Delaware River Basin are effected by the Phase II rule. The rule requires facilities to assess their current level of impingement mortality and entrainment and sets performance standards to significantly reduce those impacts. The performance standards may be met through implementation of upgrades or changes in operation of the CWIS and by conducting environmental enhancement projects. There is some flexibility in how facilities can chose to comply with the rule, and an option for a site-specific performance standard is available if the costs of full compliance are not justified by the environmental benefits to be realized.
Phase III of the rulemaking was proposed in November 2004 and is applicable to facilities that are not already covered in Phase I or II but that withdraw significant amounts of cooling water. The rule, scheduled to be finalized by November of this year, will impact other industries in the basin, including refineries and chemical plants. More information on the 316(b) rulemaking can be found on EPA’s web site (http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/316b/). -Denise Molzahn, P.E., Shaw Environmental Group