Delaware River Release Policy
by Walt Geryk
March 20,2007
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The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will soon be voting on a new proposal for managing water releases from three New York City reservoirs that directly impact 120 miles of rivers, including the famed upper main stem of the Delaware River, the West Branch Delaware, East Branch Delaware, and Neversink Rivers. The deadline for public comment is April 6th.  We need you to tell the Governors and New York City that the Delaware River ecosystem must be protected.


The Delaware River has been mismanaged since the Supreme Court partitioned its many tributaries to ensure sufficient water supplies for New York City, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Inflexible and antiquated rules designed over a half century ago result in fish kills, a depressed recreational economy, communities in fear of flooding, and a damaged ecosystem.
In years when rainfall is plentiful, water releases are often at their lowest, exposing large sections of river bottom and warming water temperatures to lethal levels.  Water levels often fluctuate wildly, disrupting insect hatches and needlessly damaging the health of the rivers and a multi-million dollar recreational tourist industry.

A coalition of conservation groups including Trout Unlimited, The Delaware River Foundation, Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, The Nature Conservancy Eastern Chapter, Dr. Peter Kolesar and his team from Columbia University and other individuals, have developed an adaptive release policy that follows the same framework as the DRBC’s proposed policy, but delivers more water to the rivers in the spring and summer.  The policy “adapts” by releasing more water when reservoirs are higher and adjusts releases by season.  The coalition’s policy creates significant habitat gains for trout, American shad, and the overall health of the main stem of the Delaware River and its headwaters.  Extensive modeling and analysis have verified that the coalition's adaptive release policy poses no additional risk to water supplies.
Please write an a letter to Delaware Basin Governors and New York City, and urge them to support the conservation coalition's Adaptive Release Policy.  The coalition’s adaptive release policy can initiate a new chapter for one of the premier wild trout river systems in the East, and potentially could serve as a national and international model for river management.

"The Coalition's: Delaware Release Policy"
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