Officials from four states and New York City who for more than half a century have navigated an uneasy peace over who gets to use the Delaware River's water may soon have a new tool.
It's a $5.2 million software program that New York City officials said would allow for better management of three gigantic water supply reservoirs in the upper Delaware watershed. The program could allow more water to be released into the river, which advocates have long sought.
New York City, which owns the reservoirs, diverts millions of gallons of water every day from them - and out of the Delaware River basin - to the city. But river advocates have always complained that New York City hoards the water, shortchanging downstream users and the river itself.
More water for New York means less flowing downstream to support aquatic life and keep the salt line - the marker between fresh and salt water - from moving north and affecting Philadelphia's water supply. The lower Delaware River is periodically stricken with drought, which also plays havoc with water quality.
Residents say that water hoarding also causes an opposite problem; it leaves the New York reservoirs too full, so when it rains, water gushes out uncontrollably, leading to more flooding downstream.
The new program incorporates National Weather Service forecasts and real-time data on reservoir levels, stream flow, snowpack, and water quality. City officials said it could be phased in, and complete by 2013.
Potentially, with the knowledge that more water is on the way, more could be released from the reservoirs, which when full hold 271 billion gallons of water.
"It's a way to make better use of the shared water in the basin," said Paul Rush, deputy commissioner for water supply in New York City's Department of Environmental Protection.
But divvying up the Delaware has always been contentious, and this is no exception.
Critics have already pounced, saying that the plan is flawed and that the program will not be transparent. In short: New York will get its way once again.
"How and when did the leadership of the four states in the basin allow New York City's needs to come before ours?" said Elaine Reichart, president of the advocacy group Aquatic Conservation Unlimited. Once a resident of Yardley, she now lives in Warren County, N.J.
Others say anything that can make the diversion smarter is a potential plus.
