Home > News/Public Information > Publications > Water Resources Plan for the Delaware River Basin (Basin Plan)
Water Resources Plan for the Delaware River Basin (Basin Plan)
A Common Vision for a Common Resource
Ceremonial Signing
A Common Vision for a Common Resource

As directed by the Resolution on the Protection of the Delaware River Basin signed by the four basin state governors in September 1999, the Delaware River Basin Commission developed a Water Resources Plan for the Delaware River Basin (Basin Plan), which was published in September 2004.

The plan is a 30-year, goal-based framework that will serve as a guide for all governmental and non-governmental stakeholders whose actions affect water resources in the Delaware River Basin. It is the product of a four-year stakeholder process, which included the establishment of a broad-based Watershed Advisory Council to provide guidance to the commission with the plan's development.

Water Resources Plan for the Delaware River Basin (September 2004; pdf 2.8 MB)

The following documents provided a foundation for the Basin Plan:

Ceremonial Signing

Elected and environmental leaders from Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the federal government, along with other interested watershed stakeholders, met on September 13, 2004 along Wilmington's Christina Riverfront to celebrate the completion of the Basin Plan. View news release.

Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner was joined by DRBC Federal Representative Brigadier General Merdith W.B. Temple, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell, and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Water Assistant Director Fred R. Nuffer in a ceremonial signing of a resolution supporting the implementation of the basin plan.

A number of federal agency representatives also participated by signing the resolution in affirmation of their agency's support of the basin plan. These participants included Jane M. Kenny, Region II Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Donald S. Welsh, Region III Administrator, EPA; Joe DiBello, Northeast Regional Partnership Programs Manager, National Park Service; Catherine L. Hill, Northeast Regional Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey; Marvin E. Moriarty, Region V Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Anthony J. Kramer, N.J. State Conservationist and designated Regional Representative for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Resolution Supporting Implementation of the Basin Plan (pdf 662 KB)