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Jun 17, 2018
Delaware River Basin Commission
2012 Delaware River and Bay Water Quality Assessment
March 2012
This report provides an assessment of waters in the Delaware River and Bay for support of various designated uses in accordance with Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act and identifies impaired waters, which consist of waters that do not meet Delaware River Basin Commissions (DRBC) Water Quality Regulations (18 CFR 410). It assesses data compiled from October 1, 2006 through September 30, 20011 (a five-year data window) into the 2012 Delaware River and Bay Water Quality Assessment (2012 Assessment). The assessment methodology used to develop the 2012 Assessment was noticed in the Federal Register on August 12, 2011 and published on DRBCs web site.
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TableofContentsIntroductionandOverview.............................................................................................................1
Background..................................................................................................................................1
DelawareRiverBasin...................................................................................................................2
DelawareRiverWaterQualityAssessment.....................................................................................4
WaterQualityStandards.............................................................................................................4
DesignatedUses......................................................................................................................5
Criteria.....................................................................................................................................8
AssessmentMethods..................................................................................................................8
AssessmentUnits....................................................................................................................9
DataWindow...........................................................................................................................9
DataSets..................................................................................................................................9
AnalyticalParameterssupportingDesignatedUses...............................................................9
DataRequirements..................................................................................................................9
AssessmentResults...................................................................................................................19
AquaticLife............................................................................................................................19
PublicWaterSupply..............................................................................................................34
ContactRecreation................................................................................................................38
FishConsumption..................................................................................................................38
ShellfishConsumption...........................................................................................................42
AssessmentSummary................................................................................................................45
RecommendationsforFutureAction............................................................................................46
AppendixA:DescriptionsofDRBCMonitoringPrograms............................................................47
AppendixB:OtherDRBCWaterPollutionControlPrograms.......................................................51
AppendixC:FishTissueAssessmentSupplement........................................................................56
AppendixD:ToxicPollutantsWaterQualityAssessmentDetails................................................67
AppendixE:TasteandOdorWaterQualityAssessmentDetails.................................................86
AppendixF:PublicParticipationProcedures...............................................................................88
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ListofTables
Table1:ApproximateGeographicalStatisticsfortheDelawareRiverBasin.................................4Table2:DelawareRiverWaterQualityManagement(WQM)Zones............................................7Table3:DesignatedUsesbyDRBCWaterQualityManagementZones........................................8Table4:AquaticLifedatarequirementsandassessmentcriteria...............................................11Table5:PublicWaterSupplydatarequirementsandassessmentcriteria..................................14Table6:PrimaryContactRecreationdatarequirementsandassessmentcriteria......................16Table7:SecondaryContactRecreationdatarequirementsandassessmentcriteria.................17Table8:FishConsumptionDatarequirementsandassessmentcriteria.....................................18Table9:ShellfishConsumptiondatarequirementsandassessmentcriteria..............................19Table10:AquaticLifeDesignatedUseAssessmentResults.........................................................20Table11:DOAssessmentResults.................................................................................................21Table12:pHAssessmentResults.................................................................................................24Table13:TurbidityAssessmentResults.......................................................................................25Table14:TemperatureAssessmentResults................................................................................28Table15:TDSAssessmentResults................................................................................................30Table16:AlkalinityAssessmentResults.......................................................................................31Table17:SummaryofBiologicalAssessmentResults..................................................................34Table18:PublicWaterSupplyDesignatedUseAssessmentResults...........................................35Table19:HardnessAssessmentResults.......................................................................................35Table20:ChloridesAssessmentResults.......................................................................................36Table21:PrimaryandSecondaryContactRecreationAssessmentResults................................38Table22:FishConsumptionAdvisorySummary..........................................................................40Table23:ShellfishConsumptionDesignatedUseAssessmentResult.........................................44Table24:Summaryofthe2012Assessment...............................................................................45
ListofFigures
Figure1:DelawareRiverBasin.......................................................................................................3Figure2:DelawareRiverWaterQualityManagementZones/AssessmentUnits........................6Figure3:Zone6ShellfishManagementAssessmentUnits............................................................7Figure4:DOObservationsComparedtoCriteriainZone3.........................................................23Figure5:pHObservationsComparedtoCriteriainZone1E........................................................25Figure6:TurbidityComparedtoCriteriainZone5......................................................................27Figure7:WaterTemperatureObservationsComparedtoCriteriainZone2..............................29Figure8:ShellfishConsumptionClassificationsdesignatedbyNewJerseyandDelawarefortheDelawareBay(DRBCWQMzone6)..............................................................................................43
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IntroductionandOverviewThe2012DelawareRiverandBayWaterQualityAssessment(2012Assessment)reportstheextenttowhichwatersoftheDelawareRiverandBayareattainingdesignatedusesinaccordancewithDelawareRiverBasinCommissionsWaterQualityRegulations(18CFR410,DRBCWQR)fortheperiodOctober1,2006throughSeptember30,2011.ThedesignatedwaterusestobeprotectedwithintheDelawareBasinareasfollows:
1) Agricultural, industrial, and publicwater supplies after reasonable treatment, exceptwherenaturalsalinityprecludessuchuses;
2) Wildlife,fishandotheraquaticlife;3) Recreation;4) Navigation;5) Controlledand regulatedwasteassimilation to theextent that suchuse iscompatible
withotheruses;and6) SuchotherusesasmaybeprovidedbytheCommissionsComprehensivePlan(2001).
TheassessmentinvolvescomparisonofseveralkeywaterqualityparameterswithapplicableDRBCwaterqualitycriteria.DRBCregulationsdesignatepublicwatersupply,agricultural,andindustrialusesfortheDelawareRiver.Sincethepublicwatersupplyuseisassessedandprotectiveoftheotheruses,agriculturalandindustrialusesarenotassessedseparatelyforthisreport.Foreachdesignateduseineachassessmentunit,anumberofwaterqualityparameters,relevanttotheuse,arecomparedtotheexisting,applicablewaterqualitycriteria.
BackgroundThisassessmentfollowsprevioussimilareffortsperformedbeginningin1996andpublishedundertheDRBCWaterQualityAssessmentReports/305(b)banneroftheDRBCwebsiteat:http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/about/public/publications/index.htmlDRBCswaterqualityassessmentreporthasbeendevelopedeveryevennumberedyearsinceitsinitiation.Inthepastseveralcycles,wereferredtothereportasanIntegratedListwaterqualityassessmentreport.ThisnamereferredtothereportsdevelopedbystatesforEPAwhichintegratedthewaterqualityassessmentfunction,undersection305(b)oftheCleanWaterAct,togetherwiththelistingfunction,undersection303(d)oftheCleanWaterAct,intoasingledocument.InthecaseofD