NYC interested in the water behind Francis Walter Dam, but for what reason?

There was a time when Ken Powley literally had to dodge bullets from angry landowners as he guided rafting trips down the Lehigh River. That was back in the 1970s when Powley started his business, Whitewater Challengers, and not everyone along the river was happy to see the fledgling business emerge.

Today, the bullets no longer fly, but a new threat has emerged that’s unlike anything Powley has ever faced during his five decades on the river.

One hundred miles away from Powley’s office in White Haven, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has expressed an interest in the water behind the Francis E. Walter Dam. It’s the same water that pours into the Lehigh River and keeps Powley’s rafting business afloat.

But like Powley, the NYC DEP is also facing a threat that is shaping up to be quite significant. The agency is tasked with supplying drinking water – more than 1 billion gallons a day – from reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains to nine million customers in the city and surrounding areas. But the NYC DEP isn’t necessarily interested in the dam as a potential source of drinking water, but rather as a tool to battle the effect of climate change, which officials say has increased the risk of drought. At the same time, climate change has also raised the sea level, and when a drought lowers the Delaware River level, it opens the door for a surge of saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean to push farther north.

The very reservoirs that quench the thirst of New York City residents also feed the Delaware River, and the river must be maintained at a specific depth to keep the “salt front” at bay.

Balancing the demands of supplying drinking water while ensuring enough freshwater surges down the Delaware to not only repel the salt, but also accommodate a thriving recreation industry, has strained the upstate reservoirs.

“The likelihood of that salt front creeping farther north is a real threat,” said Adam Bosch, director of public affairs with NYC DEP. “The salt can have an impact on some of the drinking water intakes for communities along the river, yet using the upstate reservoirs alone to push it back is a burden.”

The dilemma has led the NYC DEP to look elsewhere in the Delaware River Basin for more water, and the focus has settled on the Francis Walter, which is located in Carbon and Luzerne counties and owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In the fall of 2019, the Corps launched a study to determine if the impoundment can be used as a water supply to help push back the salt front and maintain the minimum flow targets on the Delaware. The dam was built in 1961 for flood control, and recreation became a Congressionally-authorized use in 1988. 

The study has a completion date of September 2022 and an estimated cost of $2.8 million. The USACE is funding half of that, while New York City ($897,000) and the Delaware River Basin Commission ($25,000 cash plus in-kind services to cover the balance) have partnered to fund the non-federal portion of the study.

And that has Powley worried.

If New York City gains control of the water behind the dam, it could doom the recreational industries on the Lehigh River, he said.

“I’ve seen a lot of threats and issues with the dam over the years, but nothing comes close to this,” Powley said. “Once downstream recreation was authorized as a use, and we got a flow plan to give us water releases, we thought that everything was stable.

“Maybe we were naïve. The thought that New York City would look at Francis Walter never crossed my mind.”

Powley’s business, which conducts weekend rafting excursions that coincide with water releases from the dam, has become a cornerstone of an industry that he said generates tens of millions of dollars into local economies along the river.

If New York City gained control of the water behind the dam, Powley said, recreation might not be a prioritized use and the water releases, and business, could dwindle.

“They would always hang onto that water in case of a drought. It would basically take all of the recreation water in the dam and lock it up until New York City needs it,” he said. “It’s a big deal to recreation and raises the question of do we want to cede more commonwealth resources to New York City?”

Chris Barrett, CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, said any change that impacts rafting and fishing on the river, along with the natural beauty, would have a devastating effect on tourism as well.

The tourism industry, according to Barrett, generates $3.9 billion annually throughout the Pocono Mountain region (Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties) and is directly responsible for 35,000 jobs in the area.

Much of that financial benefit, and many of the jobs, he said, are related to the water from the dam that keeps the Lehigh River flowing.

“This plan can have a devastating impact on tourism and I wonder if everyone that has an interest in this is really aware of it,” Barrett said. “We need to sound the alarm bells.”

State Sen. John Yudichak, I-Plymouth Twp., is aware of the issue and is bothered by the idea of New York City potentially using water from Pennsylvania to meet its needs.

Francis Walter Dam and the Lehigh River are located in the heart of Yudichak’s district (Carbon and part of Luzerne counties), and he’s concerned about significant impacts to businesses in the area if water is used for something other than flood control and recreation.

“It doesn’t sit very well with me,” Yudichak said. “One of the frustrating things is we try to be good partners, however we see some neighboring states do things that aren’t in the best interest of Pennsylvania.

“If this plan isn’t in the best interest of Pennsylvania, we shouldn’t move forward. We’re going to put up a fight.”

Still, New York City officials insist they’re not looking for a battle and the study is simply exploratory.

According to NYC DEP Deputy Commissioner Paul Rush, one of the objectives of the study is to gauge the feasibility of adding “low flow augmentation” as a use for the dam. That means utilizing water behind the dam to flow into the Delaware River, via the Lehigh, to help prevent the salt front from advancing too far into the Delaware Estuary, which could threaten drinking water supplies.  

Currently, the Delaware River Basin Commission monitors the flow of the river at Trenton, N.J., as a means to ensure enough water is coming down to repel the salt front. New York City’s reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains provide water to meet the flow target at Trenton, and NYC DEP also utilizes water from the Blue Marsh and Beltzville reservoirs in Pennsylvania. Both reservoirs are owned by the USACE, but the commission owns storage in them for flow management purposes.

A similar scenario could be implemented for the Francis Walter Dam, depending on the outcome of the study.

Rush said the need to repel the salt front is the bigger issue as opposed to gaining additional drinking water for the city. Water use in New York City and surrounding communities has decreased, from 1.6 billion gallons per day in 1979 to 1.1 gallons today.

Bosch added that New York City isn’t forcing the study, rather it is being done at the request of all four states – Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania – that comprise the DRBC.

“This is all about making sure the lower Delaware River basin and communities are protected from the salt front during times of drought,” Bosch said. “It’s not about drinking water for New York City.”

Perhaps the biggest attribute with the dam is its proximity to Trenton and the Delaware Estuary. Rush said it takes days for water released from the upstate dams to reach the salt front. Combining water releases from Francis Walter with other dams in the Delaware River basin would mean a stronger surge would reach the salt front much quicker, he said. 

Also, by incorporating the dam into the attack on the salt front, it would allow New York to maintain higher levels of drinking water storage in its reservoirs, according to Rush.

“Climate change is happening and this is something we need to look at,” he said. “Take a look at the dam and see if it can be done in a way to benefit the whitewater community, fisheries and all basin users, including New York City, to provide better protection against droughts in the future.

“This is something we identify as a possibility and my belief is that it can work.”

From a fisheries perspective, Dean Druckenmiller of the Lehigh Coldwater Fishery Alliance, said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the study will yield results that are beneficial.

If another use is added to the dam, Druckenmiller said, more water will have to be stored. In turn, the amount of cold water stored in the depths behind the dam will be increased, and that will be a benefit to the trout that inhabit the Lehigh River.

But Druckenmiller said there are a number of prerequisites that need to be considered, including using the current storage requirements and release schedule as a baseline for any additional use of the dam.

If implemented correctly, an additional use that doesn’t result in a decrease in water releases could benefit the trout fishery in both the Lehigh and Delaware rivers, Druckenmiller said.

“That’s the optimism. Put more water in Francis Walter to accommodate the new use, and you increase the coldwater pool in the dam while freeing up more water from the upstate reservoirs for the fishery in the upper Delaware,” he said. “There are great fisheries below these reservoirs that can benefit if this is done correctly.”