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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