DRBC's 50th Anniversary (1961-2011)
DRBC 50th Anniversary Logo 
Photo of ceremonial signing of the compact at the White House. 

(seated left to right) Governors Robert Meyner
of New Jersey, Elbert Carvel of Delaware,
and David Lawrence of Pennsylvania joined
President John F. Kennedy at the White
House on November 2, 1961, to participate
in a ceremonial signing of the compact.

Photo of Compact Signing Guests in the White House State Dining Room.

President Kennedy Hosted His Compact
Signing Ceremony Guests in the
White House State Dining Room.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) was created on October 27, 1961, when concurrent compact legislation ratified by Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and the U.S. Congress became law. This was a breakthrough in water resources management since it was the first time that the federal government and a group of states joined together to create a regional body with the force of law to oversee a unified approach to managing a river system without regard to political boundaries.

A ceremonial signing of the Delaware River Basin Compact was hosted by President John F. Kennedy at the White House on November 2, 1961.

The New York Times reported the following in its November 3, 1961 article covering the event:

NYT Article Nov. 3, 1961

♦  A statement issued by the White House press office and ascribed to the President called the signing "a significant event."

  "Its significance lies in the unique character of the compact and the great hope for comprehensive plans for full and effective development of the Delaware River Valley," it said.

  The statement noted that the new commission established under the compact would have jurisdiction over control and development of adequate water supplies, pollution control, flood protection, watershed management, recreation, hydro-electric power and the regulation of withdrawals and the diversion of Delaware River water.

  President Kennedy designated Stewart L. Udall, Secretary of the Interior, as Federal representative on the Commission.

   "I know he will work with and have the counsel and cooperation of the many departments and agencies of the Federal Government concerned with water and resource development," the statement said.

  The statement said that the Government was "glad to join with Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania in this bold venture."

  The Commission's assignment, it added, "will not be easy to achieve, but we are confident that the cooperation that has brought forth this compact will endure, and that working together real progress can be made for the people of the basin."

From the American Presidency Project:

Remarks by President Kennedy at the Signing of the Delaware River Basin Compact

DRBC Historic Photo Gallery

If you would like to use a photo from this gallery, please send us an email with your request, noting the image(s) you are interested in. Thank you.

The Delaware River Basin Advisory Committee (DRBAC) was established in Dec. 1955 by joint action of the four basin state governors and the mayors of New York City and Philadelphia. Shown here sharing a laugh at DRBAC's second "summit meeting" in Phila. on 9/30/1959 are (from left to right) Phila. Mayor Richardson Dilworth, N.J. Gov. Robert Meyner, and Pa. Gov. David Lawrence. It was at this meeting that the four governors and two mayors accepted a recommendation for a joint federal-state commission to be created by compact between the states and the federal government. They directed the DRBAC to draft the necessary legislation that would eventually lead to the DRBC's creation in 1961.(from left to right) Governor Robert Meyner (New Jersey), Governor Elbert Carvel (Delaware), Governor David Lawrence (Pennsylvania), and President John Kennedy at a formal ceremonial signing of the Delaware River Basin Compact on November 2, 1961 at the White House.The New York Times reported in its November 3, 1961 article: A statement issued by the White House press office and ascribed to the President called the signing “a significant event.” “Its significance lies in the unique character of the compact and the great hope for comprehensive plans for full and effective development of the Delaware River Valley,” it said.The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) was created on October 27, 1961, when concurrent compact legislation ratified by Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Congress became law.  This was a breakthrough in water resources management since it was the first time that the federal government and a group of states joined together to create a regional body with the force of law to oversee a unified approach to managing a river system without regard to political boundaries. (from left to right) Governor Robert Meyner (New Jersey), Governor Elbert Carvel (Delaware), Governor David Lawrence (Pennsylvania), and President John Kennedy at a formal ceremonial signing of the Delaware River Basin Compact on November 2, 1961.On December 13, 1961, the historic first meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission was held in Princeton, N.J. Shown attending this meeting are, left to right, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, Pennsylvania Gov. David Lawrence, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, New Jersey Gov. Robert Meyner, and Alternate Delaware Commissioner Norman Lack. Its mission achieved, the Delaware River Basin Advisory Committee was dissolved, although two of its staff members would later move into key DRBC positions -- William Miller as General Counsel and W. Brinton Whitall as Secretary.At its March 28, 1962 meeting, the DRBC commissioners unanimously approved the 20-point First Phase Comprehensive Plan and appointed James F. Wright as the DRBC's first executive director. John P. Robin, who was instrumental in the Compact negotiations, had served as acting executive director prior to Wright's appointment. Mr. Wright, who previously held the position of chief deputy director of the California Water Resources Department, is shown above (on the left) being sworn in by Judge Joseph Sloan at Philadelphia City Hall on May 23, 1962. Observing the ceremonies (right) is Pennsylvania Secretary of Forests and Waters Maurice Goddard.James H. Allen served as executive director of the Interstate Commission on the Delaware River Basin (Incodel) for over a quarter of a century. During the early 1940s, Incodel produced water quality standards that later would be added to the Delaware River Basin Commission's Comprehensive Plan, a blueprint for the protection of the Delaware Valley's water resources. On January 1, 1963, Incodel closed the doors of its Philadelphia offices and its staff and assets were absorbed by the newly formed DRBC.The 2/27/1963 DRBC meeting held in Wilmington, Del. was the first commission session attended by all four governors and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall (appointed by President Kennedy as the DRBC federal member). Pictured here (from left to right) are Del. Gov. Elbert Carvel, N.J. Gov. Richard Hughes, Secretary Udall, N.Y. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, Pa. Gov. William Scranton, and Lt. Gen. W. K. Wilson, Jr. (Chief of Army Engineers). Secretary Udall and Governor Rockefeller became commission chairman and vice chairman, respectively, at this reorganization meeting.Congressman Francis E. Walter, who served the residents of Pennsylvania's 15th District in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 30 years, was intimately involved in Delaware Basin planning. Only a few months before his death on May 31, 1963, Congressman Walter expressed pride in the part he played in the success of the Delaware River Basin Compact. Bear Creek Dam, which was included in the DRBC's Comprehensive Plan, was later renamed in his honor.The 1964 reorganization meeting of the DRBC was held in New York City on February 27.  It marked the second exchange of the gavel with the chairmanship passing to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller from U.S. Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, shown at right conferring with Maurice Goddard, then Pennsylvania Secretary of Forests and Waters.The DRBC at its February 27, 1964 meeting adopted its first Water Resources Program, a six-year action timetable based on the long-range content of the Comprehensive Plan that had been adopted two years earlier. Pictured here (left to right) are New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, New Jersey Governor Richard Hughes, and Delaware Governor Elbert Carvel. Gov. Rockefeller was elected DRBC chair at this meeting.The first of many high-level meetings on the Delaware Basin drought of the mid-1960s was held in the office of New Jersey Governor Richard Hughes in July of 1965. Gov. Hughes is pictured here seated under the mantel clock. Next to the governor is his counsel, David Goldberg, who later served as DRBC general counsel from 1977 to 2001. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, President Lyndon Johnson’s appointed federal DRBC member, is among those in attendance.(Left to right): New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes; New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, Pennsylvania Governor Raymond P. Shafer, and Delaware Governor Charles L. Terry, Jr. discuss basin business during a sidebar conference at the March 2, 1967 meeting held in Delaware’s State Capitol at Dover.  At this meeting, the commission adopted the most comprehensive water quality standards of any interstate river basin in the nation. The standards were tied to an innovative waste load allocation program which factored in the waste assimilative capacity of the tidal Delaware River.  The commission also declared a welcome termination of the basin’s severest and most prolonged drought.At its March 1968 annual meeting in New York City, the DRBC adopted broad regulations with procedures for implementing and enforcing water pollution control standards enacted a year earlier for the basin.  Pictured here standing at the meeting are (from left to right) U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall (President Lyndon Johnson’s appointed federal DRBC member), New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes, and New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. Seated are (from left to right) Delaware Governor Charles L. Terry, Jr. and Pennsylvania Governor Raymond P. Shafer. Secretary Udall declared that only the Delaware among the nation’s river basins was moving into “high gear” in its pollution abatement efforts.  Sharing a pot of coffee at the commission’s eighth annual reorganizational meeting held April 14, 1970 are, (left to right), U.S. Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel (President Richard Nixon’s appointed federal DRBC member), Pennsylvania Governor Raymond P. Shafer, Delaware Governor Russell W. Peterson, and New Jersey Governor William T. Cahill. Governor Cahill succeeded New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, the only remaining original DRBC member, as 1970 chairman.  Citing efforts to emulate the Delaware Basin Compact in the Susquehanna and Potomac Basins, Governor Rockefeller said upon stepping down that the Delaware arrangement “still appears the best approach devised for managing an interstate river system.”New Jersey Alternate Commissioner Richard J. Sullivan (right), New Jersey Governor William T. Cahill (center), and Samuel S. Baxter, Philadelphia’s advisor to the Pennsylvania DRBC Commissioner (left) attend the 1971 DRBC meeting in Dover, Delaware. Mr. Sullivan served as the first Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Philadelphia’s Torresdale Plant, which opened in 1909 and is located along the Delaware River, was renamed the Baxter Water Treatment Plant in 1982 in honor of the city’s first Water Commissioner.On July 31, 1975, the DRBC recommended that the U.S. Congress not appropriate funds to begin construction of the long-planned Tocks Island Reservoir on the main stem of the Delaware River just upstream of the Delaware Water Gap.  New Jersey, New York, and Delaware cast the majority votes to recommend against funding the project.  Pennsylvania dissented and the United States, as sponsor of the project, abstained.  Shown at the meeting are, left to right, New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne, Delaware Governor Sherman Tribbitt, Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp, and Ogden Reid (alternate commissioner from New York).Gerald M. Hansler is shown here being sworn in as DRBC executive director by Associate Justice Lawrence H. Cooke of New York during DRBC’s October 1977 meeting in Monticello, N.Y. Hansler was hired after a national recruitment search.  His resume included seven years of service as a regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. His directorship of EPA’s regional office responsible for New York and New Jersey was part of 22 years of prior experience which also included working throughout the nation on public health issues (many concerning water and pollution control) as a U.S. Public Health Service officer. For its first 15 years, DRBC was directed by James F. Wright, who retired in July 1977.On January 15, 1981, the DRBC declared a drought emergency at a meeting at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton.  From May of 1980, when the drought began, through 1981, the precipitation deficit in the upper basin was 13 inches.  Shown here at the meeting are (from left to right) New York City Mayor Edward Koch, New York Governor Hugh Carey, Delaware Governor Pierre duPont, New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne, Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh, and Philadelphia Mayor William Green. DRBC Executive Director Gerald M. Hansler looks on as Chairman Pro Tem Thomas P. Eichler of Delaware cuts a cake marking the commission’s 20th anniversary on October 27, 1981. Mr. Eichler, who represented Delaware Governor Pierre S. duPont on the DRBC for four years, would later leave his post as director of the Division of Environmental Control in the state's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control in 1983 to become regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Philadelphia.New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean (second from right) heads up the Merrill Creek Reservoir ground-breaking ceremonies on September 23, 1985. Also digging in are (left to right) Robert J. Touhey, DRBC Commissioner from Delaware representing Governor Michael N. Castle; R. Timothy Weston, DRBC Commissioner from Pennsylvania representing Governor Dick Thornburgh; DRBC Executive Director Gerald M. Hansler; and Dirk C. Hofman, DRBC Commissioner from New Jersey. Water storage in this reservoir, located near Phillipsburg, N.J. and owned by a consortium of utility companies, is used to replace evaporative water losses (“consumptive use”) caused by power generation when the basin is under DRBC-declared drought operations. The construction of Merrill Creek Reservoir was one of the recommendations contained in the “Good Faith” agreement, formally titled “Interstate Water Management Recommendations of the Parties to the U.S. Supreme Court Decree of 1954 to the Delaware River Basin Commission pursuant to Commission Resolution 78-20.”  The agreement, which was signed in late 1982 and early 1983 by the governors of Del., N.J., N.Y., and Pa. and by the mayor of N.Y. City, was described in the 1985 DRBC annual report as “the blueprint for future water supply management in the basin.” It contains 14 recommendations for upgrading water resources management in the basin, focusing on conservation as it relates to droughts, water storage capacity, and the salt line.New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman speaks at the signing of the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) for the Delaware Estuary on September 19, 1996. Also signing the CCMP at the ceremony in Philadelphia were (from left to right) Delaware Governor Thomas R. Carper and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge. The 1996 plan, a product of the Delaware Estuary Program, provided a framework and new focus for effective integration of ongoing management activities within the estuary -- the tidal portion of the Delaware River and the Delaware Bay.Delaware Governor Thomas R. Carper signs the resolution calling for a new comprehensive water resources plan for the basin as New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman looks on. The signing ceremony took place during a Governors' Summit held on Sept. 29, 1999 at the New Jersey State Aquarium (now known as Adventure Aquarium) in Camden.Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner is pictured here addressing elected and environmental leaders along with other interested watershed stakeholders at an event held in Wilmington on 9/13/2004 to celebrate the completion of the Water Resources Plan for the Delaware River Basin ("Basin Plan"). Also pictured (from left to right) are Joe DiBello (National Park Service), Donald Welsh (U.S. EPA, Reg. 3), Jane Kenny (U.S. EPA, Reg. 2), Brig. Gen. Merdith W.B.Temple (DRBC Fed. Rep.), N.J. DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell (Gov. McGreevey's alternate on the DRBC), Pa. Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll (representing Gov. Rendell), and N.Y. DEC Division of Water Assistant Director Fred Nuffer (Gov. Pataki's DRBC alternate & commission chair).The basin plan is a 30-year, goal-based framework that serves as a guide for all governmental and non-governmental stakeholders whose actions affect water resources in the Delaware River Basin. It was the product of a four-year stakeholder process. A broad-based Watershed Advisory Council was established to provide guidance to the commission with the plan's development.
DRBC Celebrates Turning 50

Partner Logos

To honor the Commission's 50th Anniversary, as well as the Delaware River being named PA's 2011 River of the Year, DRBC and other partners held the Delaware River Celebration on October 19, 2011.

The celebration, which included an afternoon forum and evening dinner, took place at The Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, Shawnee on Delaware, Pa., which is surrounded by stunning views of the Delaware River and Pocono Mountains, located within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. 2011 also marked Shawnee's 100th anniversary milestone.

View the Delaware River Celebration Photo Gallery

 

Presentations from the Delaware River Celebration Forum

Session 1: River Basin Commissions - Why Do We Need Them?

Alexandria Dapolito Dunn, Esq. (pdf 2 MB)
Robert H. ("Bo") Abrams, Esq. (pdf 1 MB)

Session 2: Rollin' on the River - Recreation: A Winner for the Delaware, Local Economies, and You

Gerald Kauffman (pdf 2.4 MB)
John J. Donahue (pdf 2.5 MB)
Celeste Tracy (pdf 2.5 MB)

 

DRBC's 50th was also featured in DRBC's 2011 Annual Report (pdf 4 MB).