Posted on August 19 2018
The Upper Delaware River is in Hot Water Again
Fishing not advised with high water temperatures
The Upper Delaware River has not been treated well this summer.
Pardon the bad joke, but it’s been a train wreck.
The river was forced to endure dangerously low water releases all summer long. The release levels were based, in part, on long term weather forecasting that predicted dry conditions. This placed enormous stress on the cold water ecosystem through the height of the UDR recreational season.
But the weather that was NOT predicted was right before our eyes – the torrential rains of late July and August – which raises serious questions about the accuracy of weather forecasting beyond the very near term.
The full and spilling reservoirs now make downstream residents and communities highly vulnerable to flooding if the storms continue to come.
And from a habitat perspective, hot surface water baked by the sun in the reservoirs is now spilling over the dams and, even with maximum releases, we’re seeing unusually warm water temperatures on the upper West Branch and the upper East Branch which threatens the health of the cold water ecosystem and cripples the river based economy it supports. We urge everyone to exercise extreme caution during these high water conditions and we advise anglers not to fish the river where water temperatures are too high.
The summer of 2018 points to the urgent need for the Decree Parties to bear down on some of the toughest issues left on the drawing board last fall when the new FFMP was adopted. Among them is the efficacy of weather forecasting and the reservoir management decisions that are based on that forecasting. Time and time again, these determinations unnecessarily cause harm to the Upper Delaware River and the people and communities that rely on it for their livelihoods.
We need to figure out a better way to distribute the water more evenly in the Upper Delaware River that maximizes our recreational economy, mitigates flooding, and satisfies the needs of NYC.
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