Hinchey pushes to keep gages open

Stimulus money may be available

By FRITZ MAYER

REGION — The possibility that important river gages in the Upper Delaware River Basin may be closed down soon, some as early as June, has prompted politicians to take action. U.S. Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) has written to the head of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) urging a reversal of the policy.

In a letter to acting director Suzette M. Kimball, Hinchey said that he would work to obtain more federal funding for 2010 so that the gages can keep remain fully operational. Hinchey also wrote, “I urge USGS to continue data collection at these stream gages using economic stimulus funding. As you know, the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 contains $140 million in funding for the repair, construction and restoration of USGS stream gages. The relatively small investment required to continue data collection at the threatened stream gages is certainly justified and necessary in light of the importance of this information to public safety and the environment.”

In the Upper Delaware watershed, the move that brought matters to a head was when the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) informed the USGS that it could no longer pay its share of the cost of collecting data from the gages, some of which can be obtained by satellite, and some of which is collected through on-site visits. But the situation is not unique to the Upper Delaware. Stream gage partners across the nation are facing tight budgets and cutting back.

What makes the partnerships with the USGS even more burdensome for localities is that over the years the burden of payment has shifted away from the federal government to local governments. In earlier decades, the cost split was about 50/50. Today, about 70 percent of the cost of operation falls to local governments and 30 percent falls to the federal government.

Hinchey addressed the matter in his letter when he wrote, “I am very interested in working with your agency so that in the long term, USGS no longer has to rely on local partners to fund such critical data collection activities.”

The gages are used by multiple agencies for multiple purposes. Ironically, the shutdown of some of the gages in the Upper Delaware watershed comes in the midst of a study that was pushed by Hinchey and congressman John Hall to determine what steps might be taken to mitigate flooding in the watershed, which suffered serious flooding in various locations from 2004 through 2008.

The most recent funding was announced on February 29. Hinchey and Hall secured $96,000 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide additional support for the study to mitigate future flooding in a number of areas within the Upper Delaware River watershed. They also obtained $235,000 for the development and implementation of a Delaware River Enhanced Flood Warning System, which will be done along with the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC).

For its part on the gage issue, the DRBC is working with its partners to determine which are the most important gages to save, such as the ones at Port Jervis and Callicoon. Clarke Rupert, DRBC communications manager, said, “Some of the gages have been operating for 100 years and more, so if you lose that gage, you lose that continuity of information, which is critical. So [shutting down the gages] is pennywise and pound foolish in terms of water management over the long term, but this is what has happened, not only here but across the country.”