Yes, the Delaware River has recovered. But not all the way
This multimedia series tells the story of a watershed and river where the cleanup continues and new threats loom
This article is part of a series: “Water’s Edge: Trials and tributaries of the Delaware River Watershed.” Register here for a free, virtual roundtable on March 1.
For much of the last century, parts of the Delaware River were a foul mess, full of sewage, chemical waste and other putrid byproducts of a rapidly urbanizing watershed.
There were fish kills and disease outbreaks. The paint on ship hulls became discolored by the water’s toxicity. The smell alone — especially in the stifling heat of summer — made people ill.
In the reach of the river around Camden and Philadelphia, said Maya van Rossum, head of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, “The river was so polluted there was a 20-mile oxygen dead zone top to bottom, bank to bank.”
It wasn’t that no one wanted a cleaner river a hundred years ago, it was just that the absence of a strong regulatory framework and a general lack of understanding about the human impact on the environment made measurable improvement difficult.
In “Water’s Edge: Trials and tributaries of the Delaware River Watershed,” an NJ Spotlight News multimedia series, we examine those difficult aspects of the river’s history, elements in a complex tapestry. As well as taking stock of the havoc wreaked on the river by industrial pollution, in this six-part series we will also highlight benchmarks in the cleanup and solutions to help the 13,579 square-mile Delaware River Watershed prepare for the threats that lie ahead.
First cleanup efforts
In one of the U.S.’s earliest efforts to address water pollution on a multistate level, President John F. Kennedy and the governors of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware signed a pact that created the Delaware River Basin Commission in 1961. When the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, the regional commission had the full force of the federal government to implement monumental cleanup efforts throughout the Delaware River Watershed — but especially in the urban reach.
Slowly, but steadily, the water began to heal. Within a few years, American shad, which for a time had all but disappeared from the river, returned. Today, bald eagles abound. Striped bass, also once scarce, now provide plenty of fun for recreational fishers, from the South Jersey Bayshore to Trenton. The river, once an untouchable gash running between two great American cities, is now woven into everyday life — an amenity, a place of refuge. In 2020, the environmental group American Rivers named the Delaware its river of the year because of its “remarkable comeback.”
But behind that success story, dangers loom — some familiar, some altogether new.
Up in the Highlands region, among the cleanest and least developed areas, building, stormwater runoff, failing septic tanks and other issues have created harmful algal blooms. They have, for example, raised the temperature of the Musconetcong River to levels almost too high for healthy populations of trout and other fish.
In the urban estuary, sewage treatment plants continue to pump waste into the river. Environmentalists say regulators need to set tougher standards to make the river habitable for fish, including the endangered Atlantic sturgeon.
Efforts to preserve the Pinelands region that began 40 years ago may be waning under development pressures and higher temperatures. Fertilizer runoff threatens the cranberry bogs that produce New Jersey’s bountiful harvests.
And on the southern Delaware Bayshore, climate change threatens forests and critical habitats. Creeping saltwater imperils the plants and animals, as well as the fresh drinking water supply to parts of South Jersey.
“People try to suggest that our work is done,” van Rossum said. “And that’s not really true.”
The opening image is of the Delaware River between Camden and Philadelphia. Credit: Michael Innella, North Jersey Drone Shots LLC
This article is part of a special series by NJ Spotlight News. The project homepage is your roadmap to the series. Send us your stories and photos about the Delaware River region.
Thank you to our sponsor
This project is funded by the William Penn Foundation. A longtime supporter of NJ Spotlight News, this family foundation is focused on ensuring a sustainable environment in the Greater Philadelphia area and the region. The foundation in 2014 launched its Delaware River Watershed Initiative (DRWI) that aimed to address threats to clean water in the watershed.
