Reliably-collected, scientific data support Commission management programs and help evaluate emerging threats to the water resources of the basin.

• DRBC's monitoring programs (sampling surface water, sediment and fish tissue) help to protect and restore water quality in the Basin by providing a mechanism to evaluate how water quality criteria are being met and allow for data to be assessed. Data collected serve as the foundation for the Delaware River & Bay Water Quality Asessment Reports.
  
  
• DRBC also collects data on how water is used by various sectors (e.g., public water supply, industry, power generation) in order to evaluate water use and project trends in the Basin.

DRBC data sets can be viewed and downloaded via the National Water Quality Portal, which allows users to pre-package database queries into URL’s for immediate download of project specific data. Below are links to monitoring location and analytical results for selected DRBC monitoring projects. Download of the data file will start immediately upon clicking the link.

*These data are also compiled in the Existing Water Quality Atlas of the Delaware River Special Protection Waters.

In September 2021, DRBC published a report titled Water Withdrawal and Consumptive Use Estimates for the Delaware River Basin (1990-2017) with Projections through 2060.

The report analyzes 30 years of historic withdrawal data and projects withdrawal demands to the year 2060.

Data can be downloaded or viewed online through an application developed by DRBC staff.

DRBC staff developed the Delaware Estuary Water Quality Monitoring Program (Boat Run) Data Explorer interactive application that allows the user to explore Delaware Estuary water quality data collected from 1999-2016.

DRBC staff developed the DRBC SPW Monitoring Program Data Explorer interactive application that allows the user to explore SPW water quality data collected from 2000-2016. 

DRBC utilizes R scripts as a way to view, analyze, and animate water quality and flow data, in addition to well data for the Southeast Pennsylvania Groundwater Protected Area. Data analysis and graphical display using R is becoming a major innovation in water quality studies, especially for large data sets. DRBC is at the forefront of utilizing and sharing results generated by this data tool.

Learn More: Using Data for Water Resource Management at the Delaware River Basin Commission (pdf)

• Examples of water quality data that are graphically displayed include dissolved oxygen, temperature, total dissolved solids and sodium and chlorides; these plots can be viewed at http://drbc.net/Sky/waterq.htm. 
  
  
• Examples of flow data that are graphically displayed include water yields for basin subwatersheds, discharge data for the mainstem Delaware and Schuylkill rivers and surface water elevation in the tidal Delaware River; these plots can be viewed at http://drbc.net/Sky/flows.htm.
  
  
• Temperature data for the upper Delaware River Basin can be viewed at https://www.drbc.net/Sky/uptemp.htm.
  
  
• Current levels in certain monitoring wells in the Southeast Pennsylvania Groundwater Protected Area can be viewed at https://drbc.net/Sky/sepagwpa.htm.
  
  
• Current levels in certain monitoring wells in New Jersey Critical Area 2 can be viewed at https://drbc.net/Sky/nj2.htm.

DRBC also serves as host of the R-Project list-serv for the National Water Quality Monitoring Council.

Delaware River Basin

Delaware River Watershed Initiative Water Quality Mapper: A Product of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

Delaware Valley Early Warning System: a communication system that provides warning to water suppliers and industrial intake operators in the Delaware and Schuylkill River Watersheds

Philadelphia Water Department CSOcast: Philadelphia's Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Public Notification System

Philly Rivercast: a daily forecast of Schuylkill River water quality in Philadelphia

WikiWatershed: Delaware River Watershed Initiative

U.S. EPA

U.S. EPA's Non-Point Source Pollution Web Site

U.S. EPA's Storage and Retrieval (STORET) Database: Water Quality Data

U.S. EPA's Water Resources Web Site

USGS

USGS Delaware River Dashboard

USGS Next Generation Water Observing System: Delaware River Basin

USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) Database: Water Data for the Nation

USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program (USGS NAWQA): This program, initiated in 1991 to describe the status and trends in the quality of the nation's ground and surface waters, is unique in that it integrates surface and groundwater-quality monitoring with the study of aquatic ecosystems. The USGS began the Delaware River Basin NAWQA study in 1997 (link to report).

USGS WaterAlert: a service that sends e-mail or text messages when certain USGS-measured parameters exceed thresholds.

Other

National Environmental Methods Index 

National Water Quality Monitoring Council (NWQMC)

Maps

Presentations

DRBC Monitoring Programs (pdf 4 MB)