ANEP: About Estuaries - Delaware Estuary

About Estuaries:
Insights on the NEPs - Delaware Estuary

Water quality is improving. Most strikingly, dissolved oxygen levels have improved enough to see the return of anadromous fish, including striped bass and American shad, and resident species of fish to the urban river region.
Lower bacterial levels now permit contact recreation in all regions of the estuary except for occasional high levels associated with combined sewer overflows in urban areas.

New, more stringent toxic water quality criteria have been developed by the Delaware River Basin Commission and the states and are being translated into wasteload allocations. An ongoing effort to identify nonpoint sources of toxic pollutants will eventually result in load allocations and total maximum daily loadings.

Estuary-wide coordinating conferences, which are hosted by one of the three states on an annual rotating basis, provide a primary forum for implementation.

For more information regarding the Delaware Estuary Program, please contact:

Partnership for the Delaware Estuary
One Riverwalk Plaza
110 South Poplar Street, Suite 202
Wilmington, DE 19801

ph (302) 655-4990 or (800) 445-4935
fax (302) 655-4991

Please visit the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary website at www.DelawareEstuary.org