During the controversy surrounding the writing of the River Management Plan for the Upper Delaware, the opposition coined a catchy chant, “No Park, No Plan, No Way”.

Today, I would like to paraphrase that chant, “No Releases, No Water, No Scenic & Recreational River.” It’s as simple as that.

Now that everyone has had a chance to react to my editorial, I repeat my basic premise that in establishing the Wild and Scenic River System in 1968, Congress intended to protect qualifying rivers in their free flowing state and to conserve, protect and enhance the various resource values contained therein. This included water quality, quantity, recreational, cultural, fish and wildlife and scenic resources, among others. In developing the management plan, Congress specified that the various parties involved in protecting these resources would be assigned specific tasks in the plan. This was done.

On page 66, paragraph 1 of the plan under “intergovernmental Responsibilities,” reads “the states and the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) should consider the possible revision of existing flow regimes to provide additional enhancement during good hydrologic conditions and needed protection of aquatic ecosystems during drought warning and drought storage conditions.” The emphasis here is on the latter part of the sentence.

We have heard from the UDC, the DRBC, Congressman Benjamin Gilman and various others in response to my editorial. However, we haven’t heard from New York or Pennsylvania. Why not? Pennsylvania seems to take a hands-off approach to the whole issue except to designate the Delaware River as their River of the Year. A lot of good this will do the sojourners if they face an Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational Gulch.

Granted, New York City has reserved water rights under the law. In spite of this, the Supreme Court Decree allows the parties to enter into “good faith” negotiations to change the initial release schedule rather than constantly going back to the court. This was done in the past and the DRBC or NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) often took the lead.

DRBC has amended its drought curve from time to time and even added a lower basin drought curve to the mix. The “Level B Study” of the 1980’s was another attempt to better manage water resources in the basin. Add their enactment of new water quality standards for the Wild and Scenic Rivers drainage and you have an example of effective leadership in support of the intent of Congress.

What is missing now is the resolve to tackle the toughest issue of all, and that is the release schedule from the NYC reservoirs. To say that nothing can be done is misleading. Separate but equal was the law of the land until the Supreme Court changed that dramatically in “Brown vs. The Board of Education.” Today’s Supreme Court is not the same as in 1954. Furthermore, as Congress enacts new laws it’s often left to the Supreme Court to resolve conflicts with existing laws or decrees. This was built into our Constitution by the “Founding Fathers” so as to allow for a more flexible approach to governing ourselves as the needs of society or its values changed.

If the Upper Delaware continues to play second fiddle under the yoke of a Supreme Court decree, then we might as well do as those earlier opponents cried out—deauthorize and admit we can’t protect the resource.