NEW HOPE: Ten conservancy groups oppose NY water decision

New York City Department of Environmental Protection is ending funding to maintain over two dozen stream gauges

   Responding to the recent decision by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to discontinue funding to maintain over two dozen stream gauges in the watersheds providing water to the City’s supply system, 10 area conservancy groups are calling upon Paul Rush, the deputy commissioner, to reverse this decision.
   Dian Tharp, the executive director of the North Delaware River Watershed Conservancy, has said “thousands of people throughout the Delaware River Basin rely on these gauges every day for early warning of possible floods. Right now, until major improvements are made to the City’s reservoirs, these gauges are the only means we have to warn us when our homes and our communities are in danger of flooding.”
   Commenting on the City’s assertion that it cannot afford to continue funding these gauges, Elaine Reichart of Aquatic Conservation Unlimited said, “The cost to the City is less than five one-hundredths of one percent of the DEP budget. Isn’t that a small price to pay to protect the lives and property of millions of people living in this basin?”
   ”New York City draws half of all its potable water supply from the high quality waters of the Delaware River Basin and that saves them over $10 billion they otherwise would have to spend to treat Hudson River Basin water,” noted Chuck Schroeder of Drowning on the Delaware. “It’s callous and shameful that DEP would ever dream of withdrawing the financial support for these critical facilities.”
   Jeff Zimmerman, legal counsel for several of the conservancy groups, stated, “The City may be operating in violation of a 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decree if it cannot continue to obtain the data provided by these gauges.”
   Gail Pedrick, Delaware Riverside Conservancy, said: “With NYC Reservoirs full and April storms on the way, NCDEP is now taking away our means to forecast the flooding, and the ability to point to the flood impact of their reservoirs via the Flood Analysis Model. I wonder why as NY just received millions from the Federal Government for infrastructure?”
   The conservancy groups are: Friends of the Upper Delaware, North Delaware River Watershed Conservancy, Aquatic Conservation Unlimited, Drowning on the Delaware, Trout Unlimited Inc., Pennsylvania State Council of Trout Unlimited, Delaware Riverside Conservancy, New Jersey Trout Council Unlimited, New York State Council of Trout Unlimited and R.A.F.T.