The Delaware River provides about 60 percent of the water consumed by Philadelphians. It is also a source of water to New York City's system.
Some media outlets erroneously reported that Philadelphia had intervened in the lawsuit after an advocacy group issued a news release Oct. 13 saying the city had joined the legal action.
But the Council resolution, though politically symbolic, carries no legal force. The mayor's office determines the city's legal strategy, and it appears to be taking a noncombative approach to the emotional shale-gas drilling debate.
"Although the city has not joined as a friend of the court, we are taking an active role with state and federal regulators to ensure the protection of the Delaware River watershed," Nutter's spokesman, Mark McDonald, wrote in an e-mail after the vote.
Iris Marie Bloom, the director of Protecting Our Waters, the group that lobbied City Council to pass the resolution, said she expected Council to file papers supporting the lawsuit.
"Regardless of the disappointing lack of direct assistance from the Nutter administration, Council will file the brief on behalf of the city, which is fantastic," she said.
A spokeswoman for Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., a sponsor of the resolution, did not respond to a request for comment.
The Water Department is at odds with activists who say drilling poses an immediate environmental threat to the city's water supplies.
"We're looking at this and trying to figure out rationally what it is we're looking for here, and certainly not the end of the Marcellus shale drilling," Neukrug said last week.
