Delaware River Fish Protection Petition

We invite everyone who lives within the Delaware River Watershed to sign a letter of support for the Delaware River Fish Protection Petition, which Clean Air Council submitted to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) as part of a coalition including Delaware Riverkeeper Network, PennFuture, Environment New Jersey, and over a dozen other organizations. 

The petition calls on DRBC to update its water quality standards, the regulations that limit the pollution that permit holders can discharge into the river, for the stretch of Delaware River extending from Philadelphia and Camden, NJ to Wilmington, DE to protect aquatic life to the full extent required under the Clean Water Act. 

Sign a letter of support for the Delaware River Fish Protection petition to call on DRBC to protect the water quality and the aquatic habitat of this urban stretch of the river for future generations.

Dear Commissioners:

On March 3, 2021, the Delaware River Basin Commission received a petition supported by organizations from across our watershed requesting that it upgrade the designated use classifications of Zones 3, 4 and River Miles 78.8 to 70.0 of Zone 5 (extending from Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ to Wilmington, DE) of the Delaware Estuary to include the following uses:

• Maintenance and propagation of resident fish and other aquatic life
• Spawning and nursery habitat for migratory fish

The petition also called on the Commission to immediately put in place the necessary dissolved oxygen (DO) stream quality objectives to protect these designated uses, which according to DRBC’s recently-commissioned research should be set at 6.3 mg/L.

I support this petition and urge the Commission to upgrade the designated use standards and raise the dissolved oxygen standard as requested in the petition.

As the petition shows, both external reports and DRBC’s own analysis demonstrate propagation as an existing use in this urban stretch of the Delaware River. Likewise, DRBC’s 2015 report clearly demonstrates that spawning and nursery functions for migratory fish occur every year throughout this section of the river. Additionally, DRBC’s 2018 report identifies that most key species exhibit lethal and sub-lethal effects when the DO concentration reaches below 5 mg/L and that a DO concentration of 6.3 mg/L or higher is necessary to support the spawning and rearing of the endangered Atlantic Sturgeon. 

The Commission and its member states have a legal obligation under the Clean Water Act to ensure that designated use standards protect all of the existing uses already taking place in the Delaware River. I therefore urge the Commission and the states of New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania to modify the water quality standards for this stretch of the Delaware River as requested in the March 3, 2021 petition.