TRENTON, NJ — A proposed revision of the Flexible Flow Management Program (FFMP), which had regulated New York City reservoir releases into the Delaware River until earlier this year, was presented at the September 28 Regulated Flow Advisory Committee (RFAC) meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). The FFMP spells out the rules governing water releases from the New York City Delaware system reservoirs into the Delaware River. The parties to the Supreme Court 1954 Decree—Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York State and New York City (Decree Parties)—failed to renew the original FFMP earlier this year, due to New Jersey’s refusal to sign on. If the revised plan is not signed by October 10, scheduled releases from the New York City reservoirs will drop dramatically, with potential damage to the river’s ecosystem.

The proposed revision is a two-part, 10-year plan, in contrast to the year-to-year renewals that have occurred since 2007. It includes provisions intended to satisfy several constituencies, e.g. an increase in the target void maintained in the reservoirs during part of the year to mitigate flooding, plans to develop procedures to solve the thermal and “yo-yo” release problems that have negatively affected not only trout but other river biota, and a guarantee of New Jersey’s diversion allocations even in drought. Importantly, New Jersey also received a concession regarding a key issue that has kept it from renewing the original FFMP: the proposal calls for a review of the way the amount of water available in the system, the Excess Release Quantity, is calculated.

Although the Decree Parties failed to renew the FFMP earlier this year, New York City voluntarily made releases according to FFMP guidelines during the summer. However, the city recently announced that starting on October 10 it will revert to a strict adherence to the 1983 Revision 1 release plan, which calls for significantly lower releases than provided for in the FFMP, with potentially devastating effects on the cold-water fishery.

The proposed revision would have to be unanimously approved by the Decree Parties to go into effect, and it is not yet known how the vote is likely to go. However, at the RFAC meeting, not only RFAC members but four of the principals—voting Decree Party members—were present: those for New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. All of the principals spoke, including David Kennedy from New Jersey, the state that has hitherto been the stumbling block for agreement on a flow management plan. At previous RFAC meetings this year, New Jersey representatives have explicitly said that they were not willing to sign anything until and unless extensive further concessions are made. According to Peter Kolesar, who was present at the meeting, the New Jersey representative made no similarly negative comments this time around, raising hopes that a positive vote is possible, though whether one can occur by the October 10 implementation of Revision 1 is by no means certain.