New York Reservoir Releases Monitoring and Evaluation Program on the Delaware River: Summary Report

This document is a technical report on the Delaware River Basin Commission's three year experimental reservoir releases program initiated in 1977 in the Upper Delaware Basin. The report evaluates the effects of these releases on fisheries and recreational uses in the Delaware River system. These studies were designed to satisfy the DRBC Docket Decision (D-77-20) and the elements of the study were defined in a Plan of Study (Appendix A) and approved by the DRBC. They included evaluation of the impacts on water temperatures, water quality, fish distributions, fish habitat and recreational uses. Although the report shows that increased releases will improve fishery resources, at this time the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation submits this report to support the permanent extension of the experimental releases. Further study would be required to justify larger releases from the New York City Delaware system. The report also presents information in response to water supply concerns but does not include a complete evaluation of the impact of the releases program on the New York City water supply system.Technical Report 83-5Purpose: To evaluate the effects of the Delaware River Basin Commission's experimental reservoir releases program in the Upper Delaware Basin on fisheries and recreational uses in the Delaware River system