The title may sound boring, but it truly is an important issue. Water is both a life-giving resource and a deadly, destructive force that can destroy neighborhoods and small towns. Flood waters around the Delaware have been particularly bad this time of year because New York wants the reservoirs full to make sure there's plenty of water in the summertime. Now after Governor Rendell talked to officials on our side of the river, things should be getting better.
From The Gothamist:
See, it isn't only the primary battle that we care about in the state to our south and west. Saving lives and property is far more important than making sure our water supply is as high as it can be. This isn't the western side of the United States, we have plenty of water to go around here and it should be used wisely.
NYC has agreed to lower the water levels in some of its reservoirs that supply the city with its drinking water. The move came after pressure from Ed Rendell, the Gov. of Pennsylvania, who argued for reduced reservoir capacity to spare citizens of his state from the regular spring flooding along the Delaware River that results from New York keeping its reservoirs filled to the brim. When spring storms exceed the already-full reservoirs' ability to retain water, the Delaware River floods and Pennsylvanians suffer.Under the new agreement, NYC said that it will reduce the levels of the Neversink, Pepacton and Cannonsville reservoirs to 97% of capacity after April 1st, in anticipation of spring rains. Pennsylvanians sounded barely satisfied with the compromise and characterized it as an insignificant gesture. Flooding of the Delaware River has claimed the lives of nine people and cost $70 million in property damage between 2004 and 2006. People who live along the river would prefer that the man made lakes upstream in New York State be maintained at 80% of capacity to prevent bridges and their homes from being washed away.
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