Hopes raised for imminent approval of FFMP river flow plan

ANNE WILLARD
Posted 10/12/17

HANCOCK, NY — Representatives of all the parties to the Supreme Court Decree of 1954, which provides legal guidelines for how water from the New York City reservoirs at the headwaters of the …

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Hopes raised for imminent approval of FFMP river flow plan

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HANCOCK, NY — Representatives of all the parties to the Supreme Court Decree of 1954, which provides legal guidelines for how water from the New York City reservoirs at the headwaters of the Delaware River is allocated, were present at the Water Water Everywhere (WWE) meeting of Friends of the Upper Delaware at the West Branch Angler Resort. on October 11. The representatives from Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the State of New York and New York City indicated that they are close to approving a newly proposed revision of the program that regulates releases from the reservoirs, according to Peter Kolesar, who was present at the meeting and has been deeply involved both in the devising of the program and the politics of its adoption and renewal.

The flow regime, the Flexible Flow Management Program (FFMP), was first introduced in 2007 and had been renewed annually until this year, when New Jersey was unwilling to sign on unless it had certain demands met. That meant that the rules governing releases earlier this year reverted to a system known as Revision 1 that is considerably less favorable to a variety of stakeholders, including advocates for the cold-water fishery.

Despite this fact, during the summer, New York City had continued maintaining releases at rates consistent with the FFMP and well above the minimums required in Revision 1. Then, a few weeks ago, it declared that as of October 10, it would move back to the Revision 1 system.

At its meeting on September 28, the Delaware River Basin Commission’s Regulatory Flow Advisory Committee  a proposed revision of the FFMPthat included concessions to New Jersey as well as to other stakeholders. According to Kolesar, the decree party representatives at the WWE meeting on October 11 indicated that all but Pennsylvania had already signed on to the revised plan.

Pennsylvania’s reservations about the plan are reportedly technical and legal issues that it is hoped can be relatively easily resolved, and given the approval of New Jersey—the party whose refusal to renew the old FFMP had triggered its lapse—hopes are high that the new plan may be signed within the next week or so, according to Kolesar.

In the meantime, as the New York City representative reported at the WWE meeting, although the city did start cutting rates of release on October 10, it is gradually ramping them down rather than dropping them suddenly from one day to the next. If Pennsylvania’s assent can be gained rapidly, it may be possible to restore higher rates of release before they are cut back all the way to Revision 1 levels.

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