Conservationists lobby to keep a faucet flowing
They request more water for Delaware fish

March 7, 2007
Star-Ledger (NJ)
By Brian T. Murray

A coalition of conservation groups unveiled a proposal yesterday to spill more water from three New York dams to benefit trout and shad reproduction in the Delaware River.

Members of Trout Unlimited and the Nature Conservancy led the presentation before the Delaware River Basin Commission's Regulated Flow Advisory Committee in West Trenton, urging the agencies to increase daily water flows from the dams during spring and summer.

The conservationists said the added water, timed for key spawning and growing seasons for trout and shad, will significantly improve wildlife habitat along a 40-mile, downstream stretch that has already grown rich in fish reproduction.

"Higher spring flows and slightly higher summer flows will make a big difference in the habitat for trout and shad, and juvenile shad are the basis of the food-chain along the Delaware," said Nat Gillespie, a fisheries biologist for Trout Unlimited.

The 330-mile long Delaware River lies within a 3,539-square-mile river basin that includes 216 tributaries and 11 reservoirs. The Delaware River Basin Commission manages water flow in the region with representatives from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the federal government.

The commission's primary goal is to ensure adequate water supplies for the estimated 15 million people depending on the basin for their water.

New York City gets half of its water supply from the three Upper Delaware reservoirs that are the subject of the conservation groups' proposal. They include the Cannonsville Reservoir on the West Branch Delaware River, the Pepacton Reservoir on the East Branch Delaware River and the Neversink Reservoir on the Neversink River.

The conservationists urged the commission's flow committee to adopt their proposal as the committee works on a new, three-year plan for daily water spillage from those reservoirs. The conservationists contend water supplies will not be jeopardized because their proposal calls for lessening water flow during other seasons.

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