Survey of Investment in the Delaware River Watershed

Watershed Protection

Survey of Investment in the Delaware River Watershed

In April 2014 the William Penn Foundation announced a $35 million multi-year initiative to protect and restore the Delaware River watershed (Figure 1), the source of drinking water for over 15 million people in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania including the first (New York City) and seventh largest (Philadelphia) metropolitan economies in the United States. This substantial level of private funding is designed to complement and accentuate existing watershed protection and restoration investments by Federal, state, local, nonprofit, and private organizations. The Wiliam Penn Foundation is focusing investment in the Kirkwood-Cohansey (NJ), New Jersey Highlands (NJ), Brandywine Christina (DE-PA), Upstream Suburban Philadelphia (PA), Upper Lehigh (PA), Middle Schuylkill (PA), Schuylkill Highlands (PA), and Poconos Kittatinny (PA) watershed clusters.
 
By Federal/state compact, the Delaware River Basin Commission formally links the water resources interests of 8.2 million people governed and represented by 14 federal agencies, four states, 38 counties, 838 municipalities, and numerous nonprofit organizations in the basin (Figure 2). The University of Delaware estimated that water resources appropriations scaled to the Delaware Basin totaled $740 million in FY12 with $8 million from interstate sources (1%), $285 million in Federal funds (38%), $264 million from the states (36%), and $183 million (25%) from New York City and Philadelphia. Little is known, however, about the current and cumulative level of investment in “on-the ground” watershed protection and restoration measures by these public, private, and non-profit sources in states, counties, and watersheds throughout the Delaware Basin.
 
The William Penn Foundation is interested in understanding the current levels of investment for the purpose of establishing a funding baseline against which the impact of subsequent fundraising and outreach efforts will be measured. A secondary purpose for this analysis is to inform the William Penn Foundation’s understanding of existing funding streams for watershed protection, building on resources such as the PA Growing Greener Coalition’s “Finding the Green” funding guide, the Northeast-Midwest Institute’s and Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed analysis of federal funding, and others.

Published: January 2016
Authors: 
University of Delaware Water Resources Center
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