For Immediate Release

October 25, 2001

(WEST TRENTON, N.J.) - Carol R. Collier, executive director of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), announced today that three meetings have been scheduled in November to gather public input on the goals and objectives to be included in a new Comprehensive Plan that will guide future water resources management within the basin.

The need for a new Comprehensive Plan is an outgrowth of the "Flowing Toward the Future" visioning process completed in 1999.

The meetings will be held:

November 8, 2001, DRBC offices, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, N.J., 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

November 14, 2001, Tusten Town Hall, Narrowsburg, N.Y., 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. 

November 15, 2001, University of Delaware, Newark Campus, Clayton Hall (Room 119), 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The DRBC and the Watershed Advisory Council, a broad-based stakeholder group assisting in developing the new plan, are seeking public input in helping to set the plan's goals and objectives. The draft goals and objectives that have been developed (available on the DRBC web site at www.drbc.net) will be the topic of discussion at the three meetings.

The goals being considered attempt to balance the various uses and needs of the basin's water resources by setting objectives to determine the in-stream flow requirements (or volume of water) needed for a healthy aquatic ecosystem, ensuring that adequate supplies of water are available for human needs through the year 2030 and setting flow requirements for water-based recreation.

Other draft goals seek to integrate water resource considerations into land use planning and management at all levels of government.

It is the intent of the Watershed Advisory Council, which was created by the DRBC as part of its overall planning responsibilities, to finalize the goals and objectives at its next meeting in December.

The DRBC and the council will be seeking input at the three November meetings on such topics as the setting of priorities for water users in the basin, the transfer of water from one basin (or watershed) to another, and the plan's involvement in a variety of land use practices occurring in the four basin states - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware.

The next step in the process will be to develop management strategies to achieve the goals and objectives. These strategies will be presented to the public in the fall of 2002. The strategies will then be revised where necessary and the Comprehensive Plan prepared. Public hearings on the plan are anticipated in the fall of 2003.

Additional information about the Comprehensive Plan development process, including directions to the three public meetings, is available on the DRBC web site at www.drbc.net.

The DRBC is an interstate-federal agency responsible for managing the water resources in the 13,539 square-mile Delaware River Watershed. Its members are the governors of the four states that flank the Delaware River and/or Bay (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware) and a federal representative appointed by the President.

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