The Delaware River’s tug of war

As I’m writing this on Wednesday (and for you reading this on Thursday), I’m seeing that there could not only be rain in the forecast but SNOW!! Especially up here in the northeast corner of Pennsylvania.

Apparently, winter has finally arrived.

But the drought that has hit the four-state watershed won’t be solved by one storm.

What happens in the three New York City reservoirs way up in the Catskills can have an impact way down in the basin, most often highlighted, as now, by the upward creep of the salt front.

There’s a tug of war that goes on twice a day with tides sweeping in and bringing salty ocean water up river, and getting pushed away by the force of freshwater coming downstream.

It’s a pretty long rope that’s being pushed and pulled with the birthplace of the river in Hancock, N.Y., 330 miles from the ocean. 

More about that in this story: DRBC hearing outlines dry conditions and possibility of calling a drought for the Delaware River.

But there is another story about our river grabbing headlines as far away as New York City: 

The long-planned work to plug the leaky Delaware Aqueduct has been paused.

A multi-year project stymied by Mother Nature, whose unpredictability has been super-charged by climate change.

When the project was being explained by Jennifer Garigliano, director of Water Resources Management for New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, in several meetings before the Oct. 1 shutdown, the concern expressed by audience members was about the possibility of flooding. That figures: If the water isn’t going to New York City, then it could overfill the reservoirs.

But that was then.

Now we have a drought that is sapping the city’s ability to serve its customers. The city’s DEP was worried about flooding and now here we are with a lack of water. Ironic, isn’t it?

In the four-state watershed, the drought has led to numerous wildfires.

Here’s a summary — from a story this week — again, before whatever precipitation we might get — of drought conditions in the four-state watershed: Rain and snow coming but not nearly enough to end Delaware River watershed drought.

What questions do you have about the drought conditions? What concerns or issues can we help shine a light on? What can we help explain about the complicated water system that is the Delaware and its watershed?

Write us at delawarecurrents@gmail.com and let us know.

When you read Delaware Currents, you can better understand this amazing river of ours. And when you donate, you help ensure that we can keep on doing this important work.

Thanks for reading,

Meg