DRBC set to vote on fracked wastewater ban
The commission on Wednesday will consider a rule to ban the import or discharge of fracking wastewater in the basin
As is often the way with the really interesting proposals that the Delaware River Basin Commission votes on, it’s hard to see the interesting piece with all the required bureaucratese that frames the action. So, here it is: “A Resolution to amend the Comprehensive Plan, Water Code and Special Regulations regarding importations of water into…
EPA sides with environmental groups
It demands that the DRBC speed up the process to improve the water quality of the Delaware River.
The Environmental Protection Agency has handed a surprise victory to environmental groups that were arguing for faster action to raise water quality standards in the urban sector of the Delaware River. The agency on Thursday agreed with the environmentalists that the Delaware River Basin Commission is acting too slowly to raise those standards, effectively handing…
The ‘Big Think’ with Dave Wolanski
A series of conversations with people who have worked in and for the watershed, sharing their expertise and knowledge.
David Wolanski worked for the State of Delaware on surface water quality issues and reporting for 24 years. How’s the water quality in the watershed/Delaware River now as compared to 50 years ago? How does it look in the future? In the 1970s, my parents would take our family from Dover, Del., to New England to…
Podostemum makes a comeback in the Delaware
The plant, which has not been seen south of the Lehigh since the 1800s, is reappearing in what is seen as a hopeful sign of improving water quality.
It’s a late August evening and Erik Silldorff is wearing a red swim shirt and blue trunks and an oversized sun hat that could practically be a sombrero. He leads the way to a section of the Delaware River near Washington Crossing, Pa., walking over baseball-sized gray river stones that have been exposed by a…
One-year pause on harvesting female horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay
Endangered red knots rely on the crabs’ eggs to fuel their migration
A regulatory agency last week issued a one-year reprieve on the harvesting of female horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay, a decision viewed as good news for red knots, which rely on the crabs’ eggs for food. But activists said that the agency, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, is still relying on flawed modeling…
Shoring up the Harbor of Refuge lighthouse
A federal study will explore the breakwater that the Delaware Bay lighthouse is on and recommend fixes
For nearly a century, the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse off Cape Henlopen, Del., has stood as a sentry for fishing boats, commercial vessels and recreational sailors. The current version of the lighthouse was built in 1926 at the southern end of the stone Harbor of Refuge Breakwater at the mouth of the Delaware Bay where…
Camp resort plans raise worries about effects on Upper Delaware
Camp FIMFO is drawing criticism for its scale and potential effect on the character of a rural Catskills town.
Editor’s note: This article is part of an occasional series we call “What’s Going on Here?” to highlight projects and developments throughout the Delaware River watershed. A drive across the bridge from Shohola, Pa., into a section of the Upper Delaware River in the Catskills of New York leads to a bucolic section of the…
Environmental bond act could benefit Delaware watershed in New York
The $4.2B proposal, which would fund water quality and related improvements, is on the Nov. 8 ballot
Update: New York State voters approved the referendum on Election Day, 67 to 33 percent, according to unofficial tallies. The Upper Delaware River watershed in New York could stand to benefit from a statewide ballot before voters on Election Day that would dedicate billions of dollars for water quality improvements, flood risk mitigation and infrastructure…
Sand lost to erosion being restored at a Delaware Bay beach
3,500 cubic yards of sand at Pickering Beach, southeast of Dover, Del., is being replenished
Walk along a narrow strip of sand between private homes at Pickering Beach, southwest of Dover, Del., and you will find a hive of activity on the beach even though it’s the off-season. Large earth movers and other pieces of machinery are at work restoring sand lost to erosion on the beach, which is on…
Delaware River Conservation Corps offers career paths
10 groups in the watershed are promoting sustainable jobs in climate resiliency and green infrastructure
When Aaron Kirkland Sr. got out of prison in late 2014, he enrolled in a service in Philadelphia that helps ex-convicts reintegrate to the world after incarceration. Then he heard about a program called PowerCorpsPHL. At the time, he recalled with a laugh, he was skeptical of anything that called itself a program. What he…