Ignoring sound science

By ELAINE REICHART

Recently, the three presidents of the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania chapters of Trout Unlimited, Rick Axt, Ken Undercoffer and Ron Urban, publicly took a stand against the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC’s) plan to manage the Waters of the Delaware River, called the Flexible Flow Management Plan (FFMP).

Their position reinforces what the anti-flood groups, environmental groups and even the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) have been saying for months: there is plenty of water for everyone in the Delaware River, and the FFMP only compounds New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s (NYC DEP’s) inefficient water management practices. The NJ DEP even has compiled the engineering proof of this contention in a report called “NYC Safe Yield Study.”

The organization tasked with managing the Delaware River and the regulation of the flow of its waters is the DRBC. Carol Collier, executive director of the DRBC, claimed that, “By using sound science and collaboration to develop policies in a public forum, the commission has advanced habitat protection, science, recreation, and flood loss reduction goals not contemplated by the decree.”

“Using sound science?” Not according to the “NYC Safe Yield Study” and other evidence.

The NYC DEP has changed its usage patterns of their Delaware System Reservoirs without bothering to scientifically investigate how it affects the down-reservoir communities or the aquatic life in the river. The DRBC did nothing to insist on evidence of a no-harm policy when New York City (NYC) changed its operational practices in 2001, nor now, as it prepares for the upcoming vote on this FFMP on Wednesday, July 16. The yield study has disappeared from the United States Geological Survey River Master’s website, but if you could find it, you would see that NYC retains more water than it needs—and can effectively satisfy the consumptive water needs of 11 million people a day, simultaneously providing a measure of safety for down-river communities and, importantly, providing a healthy river flow for the magnificent trout that live in the Delaware. But because NYC DEP refuses to optimize its system-wide reservoir operations, it repeatedly puts everyone and everything below them in harm’s way.

The “NYC Safe Yield Study” shows that NYC DEP’s operations are inefficient and dangerous to everything that exists below its reservoirs. It proves that the NYC DEP is hoarding water unnecessarily. Both the DRBC and NYC DEP have had this report since November of 2007, but they continue to ignore its contents. There exists a provision in the DRBC Compact that gives the DRBC the power to enforce its will to protect and serve. It is loath to use that power because it does not want to make waves. As a result, the river, the aquatic life, the economies and well being of all communities below the reservoirs suffer greatly.

The Compact and Decree Parties either don’t understand the science of the report, or are ignoring its conclusions: the FFMP is spurious and deprives the four Delaware River Basin states, aquatic life and riverside communities fair and safe distribution of the Delaware River waters.

The “NYC Safe Yield Study” is the sound science that the DRBC insists it must have to change how it manages the Delaware River. Stop ignoring the truth and get down to business.

(Elaine Reichart is the president of Aquatic Conservation Unlimited, a non-profit organization in Bucks County, PA.)