Delaware River Basin Commission 2012 Delaware River .Delaware River Basin Commission 2012 Delaware

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