Delaware River Basin Commission

DRBC Adopts Toxics Regulations

DOVER, Del. (Oct. 23, 1996) -- The Delaware River Basin Commission today approved regulations governing the discharge of toxic pollutants from wastewater treatment plants to the tidal Delaware River.

The regulations set uniform water quality criteria for the pollutants for the 85-mile reach of the river from the head of tide at Trenton, N.J., downstream to the Delaware Bay, including tidal portions of tributary streams. They also establish wasteload allocations and effluent limitations where required for 83 riverbank treatment plants.

The water quality criteria are designed to address the effects of acute and chronic toxicity to aquatic life and the potential for harmful effects on humans through ingestion of river water and/or the consumption of resident fish and shellfish. The wasteload allocation program limits the amount of pollutants that can be discharged by individual treatment plants to achieve the criteria.

Numerous toxic substances, some carcinogenic, are covered under the new rules. They include chlordane, PCBs, metals such as lead and mercury, DDT, and volatile organic chemicals.

The Commission, which took the action at its monthly meeting here, held four public hearings in October of 1995 on a proposal to add the toxics regulatory package to its existing water quality regulations. A fifth public hearing was held last month on proposed modifications to the original plan. In all, 65 oral and written comments were received from individuals and organizations as well as a coalition of 14 industrial and municipal dischargers to the tidal Delaware River.

The regulations, which take effect Jan. 1, 1997, were crafted in response to 1987 amendments to the federal Clean Water Act which required states to adopt water quality criteria for toxic pollutants and identify those stretches of waterways where the criteria were being exceeded.

In an effort to meet the federal mandate, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey independently developed criteria for the tidal reach of the Delaware, which serves as the states' common border. These new sets of criteria complemented the Commission's interpretive guidelines and narrative standards for toxics which already were on the books.

Problems inherent in this splintered approach soon became apparent and in 1989, at the request of the three states, the Commission established the Delaware Estuary Toxics Management Program.

The regulations were developed with scientific and policy input from the Commission's Water Quality Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from the state environmental agencies in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Regions II and III); and representatives from the University of Rhode Island and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

A recently-formed second group, the Commission's Toxics Advisory Committee, also provided input. This committee is charged with developing recommendations for the management of toxic substances found in waters throughout the entire Delaware River Basin.

The Toxics Advisory Committee has 13 members representing environmental regulatory agencies, industry, academia, public health interests, municipal governments, agriculture, fish and wildlife resource agencies, and environmental groups.

Fish tissue contamination by toxic pollutants has been highlighted in recent years by the issuance of fish consumption advisories. In the spring of 1994, Delaware issued an advisory stating that consumption of recreational-size striped bass, channel catfish, white catfish and white perch caught between the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and the Pennsylvania-Delaware state line was not recommended due to elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in their flesh.

This advisory supplemented advisories previously issued by New Jersey and Pennsylvania for channel catfish, white perch and the American eel from the Pennsylvania-Delaware state line upstream to Yardley, Pa., due to PCB and chlordane contamination.

The Commission's toxics management program has focused only on toxic pollutants found in point source (end of pipe) discharges to the river from both industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants. Subject to available funding, the Commission hopes to next look at what role non-point sources play in toxic pollution.

This is considered an important phase of the overall program since studies have revealed that only small amounts of some toxic substances, including PCBs and DDT, are found in effluent coming from wastewater treatment plants. Suspected non-point sources include Superfund sites, landfills, and industrial and urban stormwater runoff.

The Delaware River Basin Commission is an interstate/federal regulatory agency that manages the water resources in the 13,539 square mile basin. The basin drains portions of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Commission members are the governors of those states and the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Contact: Christopher Roberts 609-883-9500 ext. 205
croberts@drbc.state.nj.us

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