Here is a very long and detailed explanation of the Lehigh River study and the possible effects on future flow management for the FEW Reservoir >
Friends of The Lehigh River
We Are: Friends of the Lehigh River.
Many very smart people have asked many smart questions in their desire to understand why New York City is a partner in a re-evaluation study at the FE Walter Dam.
The following paragraphs are brought to you so that you might gain that understanding.
Since this is going to be big news for the next few years, the following is the best information that we have at this time. It is a work in progress, and accurate to the best of our knowledge with the information we are allowed to find.
New York City is looking 100 or more years ahead and its future water supply. Are Pennsylvanians looking that far ahead.? No way. We think they should be.
In the future, Water is Gold. Make no mistake about it. This is a fight for water supply.
Please share this information, and encourage people to:
• write an email of support,
• sign the Petition on the Friends of the Lehigh River Facebook page,
• go to the meeting on January 9, 2020, held at the Mountain Laurel Resort, White Haven
#SaveTheLehigh
Here are some figures you’ll find interesting:
It’s a Million Dollar a Mile economy.
Using a 2014 Army Corps figure of $37,000,000 annual revenue from whitewater recreation/tourism, and dividing that by 32 miles (White Haven through Bowmanstown), our recreation economy nets $1.15 Million per Mile, each year, every year, for the past several decades. Hotels, motels, campgrounds, restaurants, diners, drinking establishments, rafting company revenue, fueling stations, local shopping, etc.
A Million Dollars a Mile.
· As far as we can determine, the FE Walter Dam cost $11-12 Million to construct, in 1960-61.
· NYC can buy up to 15% of the storage capacity by
a) paying the Army Corps/US Treasury 15% of the original project cost, adjusted for inflation, and
b) paying an annual maintenance fee for the extra water.
From 1960 to present US inflation was 768.9%. That means the initial $11Million cost of the dam would now cost $95,584,054.05. 15% of this figure is $14,337,608.00.
In addition to that, NYC would pay an operational maintenance fee of approximately $200,000 or more annually for that stored water.
The moral of the story is that any deal that gives NYC control of the Lehigh River’s water will bring far less revenue than the Lehigh Gorge region reaps each year in revenue from the existing downstream recreation economy.
· Pennsylvania derives a $37 Million annual benefit from whitewater recreation/tourism (using the 2014 figure, showing no growth, and NOT adjusted for inflation)
o $185 Million – 5-year benefit
o $370 Million – 10-year benefit
o $740 Million – 20-year benefit
o $1.1 Billion – 30 year benefit
Why on Earth is anyone considering trading this economic future for a deal with NYC? Here is the same breakout of a 30-year forward look if NYC is successful in gaining control of 15% capacity of the FE Walter Dam.
o $14 Million – Initial Purchase Year One
§ $250K Operational Storage Annually
o $15.25 Million – 5-year benefit
o $16.5 Million – 10-year benefit
o $19 Million – 20-year benefit
o $21.5 Million – 30-year benefit
So there is a huge difference in revenue - approximately $980 Million - between PA keeping this water in their control, or allowing NYC to buy our future state and regional revenue for $21.5 Million.
NOTE: None of the revenue from New York City’s acquisition comes to Pennsylvania. None. Every dollar, as far as we know, goes to the US Treasury through the Army Corps of Engineers.
Background
The players here are the Army Corps of Engineers, the Delaware River Basin Commission, and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (specifically their Water Division).
This $3,000,000 FE Walter Dam Re-Evaluation Study is evenly split between the Army Corps ($1.5M) and the two non-federal sponsors in the DRBC ($25,000) and NYC DEP ($1.475M)
The Army Corps can (apparently) sell up to 15% of storage capacity without US Congressional approval.
The January 9th 2020 meeting is a scoping meeting, with interesting wording indicating lots of work has been done in advance of this meeting. Comments are requested by January 9th, in writing via postal mail, at an email address listed on this page below, they can be brought to the meeting, or they can be submitted to the Army Corps by January 29th.
The latest iteration of the Army Corps announcement page of this meeting is viewable here:
https://www.nap.usace.army.mil/…/Franci…/Reevaluation-Study/
The study should investigate many issues, uses, futures, economies, water quality, fishing, stream health, recreation, etc. for the water behind, and downstream of, the FE Walter Dam. The timeline for this study is in the above link as well. The Army Corps follows a government “tool kit” named the “Alternatives Milestone Meeting” that is listed for February 3rd, 2020.
Here is the link to the Army Corps page/flow chart for the likely approach to the decision-making for this Re-Evaluation Study:
https://planning.erdc.dren.mil/toolbox/smart.cfm…
Talking Points….
We have learned that approximately 20% of the water that leaves NYC water filtration plants is lost due to leakage before it reaches the taps and faucets of NYC residents and system users. Twenty Percent.
We have also learned that the cost estimate to repair NYC’s aged and leaking infrastructure is $20 Billion to $30 Billion.
New York City draws up to 50% of its drinking water from the Delaware Basin. Catskill creeks were deemed to be simply better water than the Hudson River streams which NYC had already used. The Hudson River is the obvious choice but it is too expensive to treat and transport through the system.
The three dams/reservoirs in question are all in New York State, all in the Catskill Mountains, and are named the Cannonsville Reservoir (near Hancock, NY, in Delaware County), the Pepacton Reservoir (12 miles from Delhi, NY, in Delaware County), and the Neversink Reservoir (near Neversink, NY, in Sullivan County). All three are on Delaware tributaries.
Cannonsville and Pepacton are fairly north, near the very northeast corner of PA, and the Neversink River comes into the Delaware River near Port Jervis, NY.
At this time, the Delaware River Basin Commission allows NYC to move as much as 800 Million Gallons of water a day from the Delaware Basin into their drinking water system.
There are two flow gauges, one at Montague, NJ (across from Dingman’s Falls just upstream of the Route 206 Bridge that crosses the Delaware), and one at Trenton, NJ. These two gauges are the “low-flow targets” of importance when the basin starts to enter low-flow or drought conditions. The Montague gauge (minimum low flow 1750 cubic feet per second) is located many miles upstream from the confluence of the Lehigh River and the Delaware River at Easton.
The Montague gauge will be unaffected directly by any Lehigh River releases. The Trenton Gauge (minimum low flow of 3000 cubic feet per second) is affected by Lehigh River flows in addition to the flows from the three NYC DEP-operated reservoirs.
As far as we know, NYC’s intention is to use the Lehigh River water to elevate the Trenton low-flow target when low Delaware River flows warrant.
Whenever NYC releases water from their Catskill dams for “conservation” or “low-flow” releases downstream, they are releasing water that they would rather send to the NYC system to be used as city water supply.
If NYC is successful in this bid we believe they are going to make, owning the Lehigh River water would allow them to reduce the drinking water they release from these three reservoirs.
In our opinion, if NYC is allowed to purchase 15% of the storage capacity of the FE Walter Dam, it is the beginning of the end of the Flow Management Plan/Water Release Plan as we know it.
In the current Flow Management Plan, the Army Corps collects water starting on or about April 1, when the pool level is at its winter pool elevation of 1300 feet above sea level. The objective each year, the first week of May, is a pool elevation of 1370 feet above sea level. At elevation 1370, this represents 18% of the flood control capacity of the dam.
NYC’s acquisition of 15% of storage capacity for their needs leaves just 3% of the capacity for the fisheries/downstream recreation releases.
We don’t see any scenario where the Army Corps would allow for storage above the elevation 1370/18% capacity. Its major reason for existence is flood control.
We do not see any way the current Flow Management Plan survives if NYC is successful. The water release program that hundreds of thousands of people have enjoyed – millions over the years – will no longer exist. It can’t.
The US Army Corps of Engineers, in an online document dated July 8, 2014 (https://www.nap.usace.army.mil/…/francis-e-walter-dam-re-e…/) concerning whitewater recreation, states that “annual operating plans are developed each year based on storage availability which currently support an estimated $37,000,000/year tourism industry.” This aforementioned operating plan is the FE Walter Flow Management Plan, a well-honed, well-conceived, balanced plan, thoughtfully executed by the Army Corps.
The sections of the Lehigh River that are enjoyed by whitewater recreation tourists, from White Haven to Bowmanstown, are approximately 32 miles of river. Using the Army Corps’ published figure of the $37,000,000/year tourism industry, this makes for an annual figure of $1.15 Million per Mile for River Tourism.
Thousands of private kayakers, canoeists, rafters, tubers, and stand-up paddleboarders enjoy the Lehigh River every year. Many kayak and canoe clubs use the Lehigh River as the classroom in which hundreds of people learn safe boating skills every year.
The professional river outfitters would not be in business if it weren’t for the 150,000 or more people who look to them to provide the guiding and equipment necessary for their river recreation in the Poconos each year.
The rafting outfitters employ about 1300-1400 people, part- and full-time, and mostly seasonally.
If the Flow Management Plan allowing for downstream recreation ends because of NYC’s purchase of 15% of the capacity at FE Walter, the Flow Management Plan as we know it collapses. This $37,000,000 a year economy shrinks by 50-80%. The question will be: how will Pennsylvania make up for this lost tax revenue?
The Whitewater Recreation Economy created on the Lehigh River by the existing Flow Management Plan provides real jobs. Real jobs, for real people, people who pay real taxes, and create real revenue spent by people choosing Pennsylvania as their outdoor recreation destination.
You’re already a friend of the Lehigh River. Like our Facebook Page,
Friends of the Lehigh River
Stay aware, keep listening, become informed. Secure our future.
Don’t let this happen.
Link to source > https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=117650673072347&id=109318403905574&__tn__=K-R
