Highlighting challenges that the Delaware River Watershed faces, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) called on Wednesday for support for a new program that would use private investment, regional partnerships and local expertise to preserve and restore the watershed.
Approved by Congress in December 2016 as part of the larger Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act establishes the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program within the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Fitzpatrick and Greg Goldman, the executive director of Audubon Pennsylvania, called for funding for the restoration program in a joint op-ed published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Delaware River Watershed provides 15 million people with safe drinking water. It also supports $25 billion in economic activity, including 600,000 jobs that generate more than $10 billion in agriculture, recreation, ecotourism, recreational hunting and fishing, and commercial fishing and ports each year, the op-ed notes. The river basin stretches from New York, through parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and runs through Delaware.
“Despite all its economic, ecological and recreational importance, the watershed has long lacked the federal support provided to other major — and more famous — river watersheds across the nation,” the op-ed states. “The Delaware River Watershed faces extraordinary challenges, including unplanned sprawl development, extensive loss of forests, effects of a changing climate and deteriorating water quality. These are difficult issues, and the only effective way to address them is through a multipartner, watershed-wide conservation program with sufficient funding.”
The benefits of the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program warrant the $5 million that House appropriators have proposed for it.
“The funding will go to identifying and launching restoration and protection activities throughout the river basin, which stretches from Upstate New York, covers the eastern part of Pennsylvania and the western side of New Jersey, and runs through Delaware to the Atlantic Ocean,” the op-ed states.
The program also would bring together state and local governments, universities, nonprofit organizations and other partners to ensure safe drinking water and to address increased flooding issues in the region.
“This is not a red-state or blue-state issue,” the op-ed concludes. “This is our generation’s legacy to the health, jobs, and well-being of our children and grandchildren.”