For Immediate Release
December 6, 2022
PA, NJ, DE, NY – A recent United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determination about water quality standards for sections of the Delaware River undermines a stakeholder process led by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). The federal action, announced via letter to the DRBC, threatens to short circuit the scientific analysis and collaborative work already in progress.
The Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin (WRA) is a nonprofit, non-partisan, advocacy and public information organization that promotes the science-based management of water resources within the Delaware River Basin to protect water dependent uses and enhance the long-term sustainability and resiliency of the river system. WRA’s members are water users of the Basin.
Over the past five years, pursuant to Resolution 2017-4, the DRBC has guided a collaborative process involving representatives of three of the Delaware River Basin states, two EPA regions, academics, fisheries scientists, environmental groups, and experts of all types to prepare a draft Analysis of Attainability: Improving Dissolved Oxygen and Aquatic Life Uses in the Delaware River Estuary. DRBC’s process of developing this analysis and the series of recommendations it contains has avoided missteps and litigation and has brought a diverse group of stakeholders together with a shared vision of addressing a challenging issue. Monitoring has been conducted, complex models have been developed and applied, and implementation strategies have been considered. The six-year timetable approved in the Resolution, extended due to COVID and the need for additional data, now projects the completion of the effort and the establishment of new water quality standards by March 2025.
EPA’s December 1, 2022, Determination, issued in response to a petition for EPA intervention filed by several environmental groups some of whom have been actively participating in the DRBC process from the outset, threatens to undermine the progress DRBC has made and derail the process DRBC continues to follow. Setting arbitrary deadlines disregards the complexity of the scientific evaluations needed to put in place defensible standards and risks slowing the process. A more prudent course for EPA in responding to the petition would have been to provide additional resources to support DRBC’s ongoing, collaborative and scientifically rigorous efforts.
According to Preston Luitweiler, Chair of WRA’s Science and Policy Committee, “EPA could best advance the next level of water quality improvements in the Delaware Estuary by supporting DRBC’s efforts and assisting regulated entities facing significant and unprecedented financial demands in securing federal funding for the improvements needed to meet new water quality standards.”
Contacts
Skelly Holmbeck, Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin (WRA), 561.707.3186, ed@wradrb.org
Jennifer Garigliano, President, WRA 845.334.7865, jgarigliano@dep.nyc.gov
Preston Luitweiler, P.E., WRA Science and Policy Committee, jpluit3@gmail.com, 215.341.5052
About the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin
WRADRB is a nonprofit, non-partisan, advocacy and public information organization that promotes the science-based management of water resources within the Delaware River Basin to protect water dependent uses and enhance the long-term sustainability and resiliency of the river system. WRADRB represents the water users and anyone dependent or interested in the Basin’s water resources.
WRADRB was established in 1959 by representatives from industry, public and private utilities and other organizations that had wide-ranging interests in water resources and sought to ensure public participation in the management of the Delaware River and its tributaries.
In 1961, the WRADRB successfully participated in the development of a federal-interstate compact and the creation of the Delaware River Basin Commission. Since then, WRADRB has remained active in monitoring activities of the DRBC and other agencies of the four Basin states.