The DRBC uses a multi-faceted strategy to water quality regulation that provides a rational approach to protecting and restoring water quality in the basin.

Article 5 of the Delaware River Basin Compact defines the Commission's water quality mandates and directs the DRBC to take the lead on water quality matters pertaining to the Basin by adopting regulations:

"...to control such future pollution and abate existing pollution, and to require such treatment of sewage, industrial or other waste....as may be required to protect the public health or to preserve the waters of the Basin for uses in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan." (Compact, §5.2)

The Commission's first Water Quality Regulations (pdf 885 KB) were adopted in March 1967. They are divided into two main sections: Article 3 - Water Quality Standards for the Delaware River Basin and Article 4 - Application of Standards. 

In 1968, Stewart Udall, Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior from 1961-1969, said, "Only the Delaware among the nation's river basins is moving into high gear in its program to combat water pollution."

DRBC's Water Quality Regulations, which have been updated and revised periodically, are part of the Commission's Water Code (pdf 1.3 MB) and are an important mechanism by which its members work together to manage, protect and improve the water resources of the Basin. They protect the Basin's waters by establishing criteria that specify what levels of individual parameters are appropriate to protect the river's designated uses - for example, aquatic life, drinking water, fish consumption and recreation - in the river's main stem water quality zones (pdf 3.2 MB) and also for the Basin in its entirety. Criteria have been established to protect both human health and aquatic life. 

To evaluate how water quality criteria are being met and whether the designated uses are being protected, you must monitor and assess the collected data. The foundation of DRBC's monitoring programs is the tenet you can't manage what you don't measure. 

DRBC's efforts to improve water quality over the past sixty years are rooted in the Delaware River Basin Compact's chief canon: that the waters and related resources of the basin are regional assets vested with local, state and national interests that all share joint responsibility to maintain and protect.

However, it is important to note that the work is far from complete, as parts of the river still are not "fishable and swimmable," which is the stated goal of the federal Clean Water Act. New technology enhances the DRBC's ability to detect, monitor, track and model pollution such as PCBs and contaminants of emerging concern in the river.

The Commission's policies, programs and abatement efforts must therefore adapt and evolve in order to continually improve the Basin's water quality for future generations.

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• Article: "The Historical Context of Water Quality Management for the Delaware Estuary" by Richard C. Albert (1988; pdf)
  
  
• Article: "The Delaware River Revival: Four Centuries of Historic Water Quality Change from Henry Hudson to Benjamin Franklin to JFK" by Gerald J. Kauffman, Jr. (2010; pdf)
  
  
• Booklet: DRBC Water Quality Programs (pdf)
  
  
• Data: Water Quality
  
  
• Map: DRBC Water Quality Monitoring Sites (pdf)
  
  
• Maps: DRBC Water Quality Interactive Maps
  
  
• Report: 2019 State of the Basin
  
  
• Reports: Delaware River & Bay Water Quality Assessments

• PDE 2022 Technical Report for the Delaware Estuary & Basin: DRBC-Authored Chapter 4 - Water Quality (pdf; given at the 2023 Delaware Estuary Science and Environmental Summit)
  
  
• DRBC Monitoring Program Updates (pdf 4.4 MB; given by DRBC staff at the Monitoring Advisory & Coordination Committee Meeting, Dec. 2021)
  
  
• Restoring Water Quality in the Main Stem Delaware River: Programs, Policies and Strategies (pdf 3.6 MB; given by DRBC staff at the 9th Annual Delaware River Watershed Forum, Sept. 2021)
  
  
• Water Quality Standards of the Delaware River Basin (pdf 6.7 MB; DRBC's Dr. Ron MacGillivray presented on DRBC WQ Standards, Oct. 2020)
  
  
• A Fishable, Swimmable (and Drinkable) Delaware River Estuary (pdf 6.7 MB; given at the 8th Annual Delaware River Watershed Forum, Sept. 2020)
  
  
• State of the Basin 2019: Water Quality and Living Resources (pdf 3 MB; given at the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin Fall Technical Symposium, Nov. 2019)
  
  
• Recreational Uses and Criteria in the Delaware River (pdf 3 MB; given at the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed Fall Forum, Oct. 2019)
  
  
• DRBC Water Quality Management Programs (pdf 4.6 MB; given to a visiting delegation from South Korea's Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, Mar. 2019)
  
  
• Tips to Improve Water Quality and Conserve Water (pdf 2.5 MB; given to the Lower Makefield Twp. EAC, Feb. 2019)
  
  
• Water Quality Management Part 1: The Need and Role for Clean Water Regulation (pdf 1.7 MB; given at the PDE Science Summit, Jan. 2019)
  
  
• Implementation of Water Quality Management Part 2: Applications, Successes, and Challenges (pdf 2.2 MB; given at the PDE Science Summit, Jan. 2019)
  
  
• Water Quality Management Part 3: Water Quality Challenges (pdf 2 MB; given at the PDE Science Summit, Jan. 2019)
  
  
• DRBC Water Quality Monitoring Programs (pdf 5.3 MB; December 2018)
  
  
• Water Quality Improvements in the Delaware River Basin (pdf 2.9 MB; given at the GANJ Annual Conference, October 2018)
  
  
• Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment in the Delaware River and Bay (pdf 4 MB; given at Temple University WET Seminar, April 2018)
  
  
• DRBC Monitoring Programs (pdf 4 MB; September 2017)