Protected waters?

By SARAH KOENIG

 RIVER VALLEY — Between the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWGNRA), there is an eight-mile stretch of river that doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service (NPS).

Within that eight-mile stretch of river, there are three sewage treatment facilities that discharge into the river.

Richard Gross, a retired NPS employee and now a member of a DWGNRA Citizens Advisory Committee designed to keep Congress and the Department of the Interior informed of the NPS’s attempts to protect the Delaware River, said that he is concerned about the potential water quality impact if further growth is allowed.

“We are aware,” he said, “that any more development in that area could have a severe effect on the river quality.”

According NPS biologist Allan Ambler, while there aren’t many factors restricting additional sewage discharge into non-NPS waters, there are some preventative measures in place.

“For one thing,” Ambler said, “there can be no measurable change in the quality of water that flows across the northern boundary of the park. Any sewage treatment facility wanting to build there or increase their capacity has to show, through models and data, that the additional discharge wouldn’t impact the water quality.”

The NPS, in conjunction with the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), regularly monitors and tests water quality, based on a set of regulations established in 1992.

As of yet, Ambler reports, “Background and discharge amounts have been relatively stable since the regulations were adopted. However,” he added, “the three sewage treatment plants have been in existence the whole time.”

Additionally, the eight-mile stretch of river in question is under the DRBC purview for issuing discharge permits, which gives them control in determining the size of sewage discharge “mixing zones,” which the Environmental Protection Agency defines as “areas within water bodies where pollutants discharged from pipes are allowed to mix at high concentrations before entering the surrounding water in safe concentrations.”

One of the issues surrounding the non-NPS stretch of river is who, if anyone, has ultimate jurisdiction over it. Also, how far does that jurisdiction extend, since it flows through three separate states?

According to Dave Lamereax, Assistant Regional Director of the PA Department of Environmental Protection, “There are federal laws, but most of them are delegated down to the state agencies.”

The same problem is encountered when considering the control the NPS has over the area.

“The NPS, under the Department of the Interior, has control,” said Gross, “but it’s the states that have to make the regulations.”

The DRBC, then, is the most likely candidate to step in to handle a problem with the unprotected water, should one ever arise. The DRBC is a federal entity with representatives in all four states containing sections of the Delaware River.

“Their main concern is the protection of the river,” says Lamereax. “And although they don’t have direct authority to go over and correct a problem, all the states involved are members of the commission. And they have an obligation, as members of the commission, to protect the river.”

And it is in the spirit of that shared obligation, Ambler said, that the eight-mile stretch of water has to be dealt with.

Gross, for one, remains skeptical.