For Immediate Release

September 6, 2023

(West Trenton, N.J.) -- The Delaware River Basin Commission will receive a grant from the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund to support its water quality programs, including work to monitor emerging contaminants, model climate change impacts on fish habitat and further study how bacteria concentrations affect recreational uses of and access to urban stretches of the Delaware River.

DRBC staff joined U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons (Del.), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and partners last week in Wilmington, Del., for the announcement of the 2023 Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund grant awards. A total of $14.9 million will be awarded to 36 projects to improve water quality, recreation access and fish and wildlife habitat in the Delaware River Basin.

"This award will allow our staff to build upon ongoing technical work and advance our understanding of emerging water quality issues," said DRBC Deputy Executive Director Kristen Bowman Kavanagh. "On behalf of Commission staff, I thank the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for supporting our project and congratulate the other awardees."

With support from the $498,200 grant, the Commission will conduct research and outreach in three areas:

• Characterizing the baseline occurrence of 6-PPDq, a substance found in worn car tire particles that is toxic to trout and other salmonids, in the Delaware River and select tributaries in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. 6-PPDq is a recently discovered contaminant of emerging concern, and this study may be the first of its kind in the Basin.
  
  
• Modeling that will examine how climate change will affect fish habitat and dissolved oxygen concentrations in the Delaware River Estuary.
  
  
• Water quality monitoring and research in support of safe and equitable recreation in the river near Philadelphia, Chester, Pa., and Camden, N.J.

"The Delaware River is a critical resource for communities in South Jersey and powers our entire region," said Rep. Donald Norcross (NJ-01). "This federal funding will advance important scientific research that protects wildlife and promotes healthy communities. By deepening our understanding of water quality, this funding will help us anticipate and respond to emerging environmental challenges such as pollution, flooding and climate change. I'd like to thank the Delaware River Basin Commission, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with them to protect our natural resources."

The Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation with major funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The fund provides competitive matching grants for restoration and protection activities that advance the goals of the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program, a non-regulatory program established by Congress in the 2016 Delaware River Basin Conservation Act and overseen by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The program is dedicated to supporting restoration and protection activities that improve fish habitat and water quality in the Delaware River and its tributaries. The DRBC is a member of the program's Delaware Basin Conservation Collaborative, which helps guide program development and goal setting. 

Information about the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund can be found at https://www.nfwf.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/nfwf-dwcf-20230831-fs.pdf. Learn more about all 36 projects funded in 2023 at https://www.nfwf.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/nfwf-dwcf-20230831-gs.pdf.

The DRBC is a federal/interstate government agency created in 1961 by concurrent compact legislation, marking the first time that the federal government and a group of states joined together as equal partners in a river basin planning, development and regulatory agency. The five Commission members are the governors of the Basin states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania) and the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' North Atlantic Division, who represents the federal government.

To learn more about the Commission, please visit www.drbc.gov or follow DRBC on X (formerly Twitter) at @DRBC1961.

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Contact: 

Elizabeth Brown, Elizabeth.Brown@drbc.gov

Kate Schmidt, Kate.Schmidt@drbc.gov

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