DamascusCitizens.org

Half of Central New Jersey's Water comes
from the Delaware River.
New Jersey Faces "Catastrophic Public Health Risk."

October 10, 2009
SIERRA CLUB, NEW JERSEY CHAPTER
Resolution Regarding Natural Gas Mining in the Delaware River Watershed

WHEREAS, the Delaware River Watershed, which is located in the Marcellus Shale formation that extends from West Virginia through Pennsylvania to New York State, supplies water to 15 million people including New York City, Philadelphia and a million New Jerseyans; and

WHEREAS, the Upper Delaware River is a Scenic and Recreational River designated by Congress under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act based on its outstanding natural values and resources, including watershed, habitats and tributaries; and

WHEREAS, the technique for extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale involves horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing of wells with a proprietary mixture containing millions of gallons of water mixed with toxic chemicals; and

WHEREAS, repeated fracturing with millions of gallons of fluid and leaving 30% to 70% in the gas wells can lead to contamination of drinking water wells and the Delaware River Watershed; and

WHEREAS, shale gas extraction is exempted from provisions of the Clean Water Act and other federal environmental regulations which protect aquifers, air quality and human health; and

WHEREAS, the ecosystem at well sites is adversely impacted by surface disturbance from development, by road construction for truck transport of process water and waste fluids, and by withdrawal of millions of gallons of water from streams and rivers in the Delaware River Watershed; and

WHEREAS, extracted fracking fluids contain chemicals added to enhance drilling and potentially dredged up naturally occurring toxic chemicals, radioactive materials, and dissolved salts, and onsite handling and storage of waste fluids in surface pools permits release of volatile toxic chemicals; and

WHEREAS, municipal sewerage plants are not equipped to handle the potential toxins and salts in drilling waste fluids, and sufficient properly licensed and operated water treatment facilities do not exist and are not planned in the Delaware River Watershed to manage the waste fluids.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club opposes the hydrologic mining as now practiced of natural gas in the Delaware River Watershed.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club calls upon the natural gas mining industry to voluntarily comply with all existing federal environmental regulations and to rapidly develop proven environmentally sound mining techniques and practices to allow for rapid use of natural gas as an interim fuel until adequate renewable energy sources become available.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club calls upon the Delaware River Basin Commission to withhold approval of new wells pending compliance with existing federal environmental regulations and until proven environmentally sound mining techniques are available.

SIERRA CLUB, NEW JERSEY CHAPTER
Kenneth R. Johanson, Chapter Chair

New Jersey has special danger in this regard as its aquifers are recharged from both direct water movement from the Upper Delaware Basin and from seepage recharge directly from the Delaware River. (SEE NJ Aquifers in PDF section)

Raritan_Basin_Riverware_Model.pdf

A point to emphasize when presenting this information - water contaminants travel - the PCB's in the Hudson River have travelled 200 miles. This information below does not contain any of the specifics of the toxic contaminants,VOC's-BTEX, heavy metals, radioactivity, biocides,etc that would be carried with the drinking water to homes in New Jersey; only about the actual supply and volume of water sources originating with the Delaware River and the Delaware River basin.

New Jersey water supply from the Delaware River

On page 8 lower middle next to Del Basin map:
Gas-Drilling_WhitePaper.pdf

The recharging of the NJ coastal aquifers
In certain areas (e.g., along the Delaware River) heavy pumping has caused a reversal in the normal discharge from the aquifer (Raritan-Magothy) such that the surface stream (Delaware River) now recharges the aquifer. This phenomenon implies that, in addition to the New Jersey Coastal Plain Area, the Delaware River Basin within Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York must be regarded as a streamflow source zone (an upstream headwaters area which drains into a recharge zone), which flows into the Coastal Plain Area.

Potomac-Raritan- Magothy aquifer system
Model studies have indicated that about forty three percent (43%) of the total inflow to the Potomac-Raritan- Magothy aquifer system in 1973 was induced recharge from the Delaware River (Luzier, 1980).

Also in this section are details - maps,etc - of where direct withdrawals are made from the Delaware River for municipal water supplies.

IN ADDITION TO WHAT IS IN THE White Paper:
NJ Aquifers (in PDF section) The following is on the Delaware Raritan Canal from:
http://www.njwsa.org/html/d___r_canal.html

The Delaware & Raritan Canal Transmission Complex is an integral part of a water supply system that also consists of Round Valley Reservoir and Spruce Run Reservoir which together have the capability of delivering 225 million gallons of raw water per day to the water utilities that serve central New Jersey.

SEE page 15 of:
Raritan Basin Riverware Model

http://www.njwsa.org/Raritan_Basin_Riverware_Model.pdf

pg 8 ....
The Raritan River Basin system provides drinking water for more than 1.5 million residents in New Jersey.

pg 13 ...
Delaware Basin water is transferred to the Raritan Basin via the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

pg 16…
100 million gallons per day in 2005 from the Delaware River at Raven Rock

The Delaware and Raritan Canal is an inter-basin transfer of up to 100 mgd from the Delaware River. Water is diverted from the Delaware into the Canal at Bull’s Island, near Stockton, New Jersey, and travels 60 miles to New Brunswick where the water is discharged to the Raritan River. Water purveyors withdraw water from the Canal at several locations along the route. Water not withdrawn by water purveyors is either discharged to the Millstone River at the Ten Mile Lock release gate21 or to the Raritan River at the downstream terminus at the Route 18 spillway.

pg. 18 ... MAX of 120 mgd and less in drought times from the Delaware River
Per the Delaware River Compact,26 flow from the Delaware River is diverted to the Raritan Basin via the Delaware and Raritan Canal. The Canal, originally built in the 1800s for the conveyance of goods between New York and Philadelphia, is currently maintained for water supply and recreational purposes. During “normal” operations, 100 mgd may be diverted into the Canal from the Delaware with not more than 120 mgd to be diverted on any single day. During drought warning, 70 mgd may be diverted and during drought emergency 65 mgd may be diverted. Drought is defined by Delaware River Basin conditions and not by Raritan Basin conditions. The Authority monitors Canal flows through gates, skimmers and weirs and major points along the Canal, including Port Mercer (upstream of all the Canal purveyor intakes) and through the river interconnection (waste gate) at Ten Mile. The USGS also monitors flows at Port Mercer and has only rated their data as “fair” with poor records at low flow27. To the extent possible, these data were used, but suspect periods in the record were modified to better reflect other observed conditions.