Objections remain over Delaware fisheries protection plan

River management plan comment period extended

By FRITZ MAYER

WEST TRENTON, NJ — Is there enough water to serve both thirsty city dwellers and cold-water-loving trout? Should the reservoirs be enlarged so they can serve all interested parties?

These are just a couple of questions that remain as the debate about the Flexible Flow Management Plan (FFMP), which will determine the flows in the Upper Delaware River, continues.

The national organization of Trout Unlimited (TU) and its state chapters in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey have come out in opposition to the FFMP. In a letter released on January 17, TU said that the concept behind the FFMP was the best way to manage the river’s flows, but Ken Undercoffer, chairman of the Pennsylvania council of TU, added, “The water release schedules in the FFMP will continue to adversely affect the trout fisheries in the Upper Delaware’s main stem due to lethal rises in water temperatures and loss of habitat.”

Ron Urban, chair of the New York council of TU, said, “It is well documented that more than enough water exists within the Upper Delaware River watershed for healthy aquatic habitat and New York City’s drinking water.”

That statement brought a quick response from Friends of the Upper Delaware (FUDR), who had previously been in disagreement with a local chapter of TU about the merits of the FFMP. FUDR released a statement praising the national TU organization that said, “FUDR unanimously agrees, in principal, with national TU that the release schedules contained within the framework of FFMP must be rectified to include more release levels that allow ample volumes of water sufficient to protect the established cold-water fishery. Without significant changes in the FFMP, the health of the river will suffer as well as the recreational tourist economy in the region.”

Asked if this meant an end to disagreements between TU and FUDR, Dan Plummer, chairman of FUDR, indicated in an email that the two groups are now more closely in agreement about how much water can be safely released from the reservoirs. He wrote, “I personally hope that FUDR and TU can work together to help each other with the overwhelming task ahead to allow this system to live up to its potential.”

In the meantime, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has also weighed in on the matter, saying that there should be more water released from the reservoirs than called for in the FFMP to protect the fisheries, and it seems likely that there is plenty of water in the system to do this while still providing ample drinking water to New York City and other down river communities.

On another front, some residents still say the FFMP doesn’t go far enough in protecting homeowners against the ravages of floods in the future, which has long been a concern. On the other hand, plan advocates say the FFMP will help mitigate flood damage because it will release water from the reservoirs when they are full, thus creating voids that can hold excess water during flooding events.

However, Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, opposes the FFMP precisely because of the void element of the plan. In order to compensate for less water in the reservoirs due to voids, the FFMP envisions that the Cannonsville and Pepacton reservoirs may be enlarged to hold an additional 13 billion gallons of water by 2012.

“The states, New York City and DRBC are trying to hijack the ongoing reservoir management debate as a way to get New York City bigger dams on the Delaware,” said van Rossum, who testified at a hearing in West Trenton, NJ on January 18.

She said that voids and larger reservoirs could not adequately protect people living in the flood plain during extreme weather events, such as those the area suffered from 2004 to 2006, because the floods will bring damage again regardless of those actions. In fact, she said, trying to make use of the reservoirs as a flood mitigation tool will give residents and officials a “false sense of security,” encouraging them to continue to site buildings in flood plains.

Instead, she said, governments should be buying some of the many structures that are now for sale in flood plains throughout the Upper Delaware watershed, and moving or otherwise disposing of the buildings, rather than passing the problem along to the next owner.

The agency that oversees the flow of water in the Upper Delaware River, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), has decided to extend the debate over the plan a bit longer.

The public comment period on the Flexible Flow Management Plan (FFMP) was scheduled to have ended on January 18. But after the hearing on that date, Carol Collier, DRBC executive director, announced that the period for submitting written comments on the plan would be extended through March 3. Collier said the 45-day extension came in response to numerous requests voiced at the hearing.

Comments on the FFMP should be mailed to Commission Secretary, DRBC, P.O. Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, NJ 08628-0360, or emailed to paula.schmitt@drbc.state.nj.us.