The Environmental Integrity Project claims 97% of Delaware rivers and streams are too polluted for both water recreation and aquatic life.
The Clean Water Act at 50 report, released March 17, lists Delaware among the worst in the nation in terms of miles polluted by illegal runoff of fertilizer, other contaminants, and algae blooms dangerous to both humans and fish.
“As a legal term under the Clean Water Act, ‘impaired’ means a waterway has too much pollution for a public purpose,” said Tom Pelton, EIP director of communications. “That includes swimming, fishing or as a drinking water source. That can also include contamination by fecal bacteria, nitrates and algae blooms that cause dead zones.”
Of the 4,470 total miles of rivers and streams in the state, an estimated 1,901 miles are too “impaired” for any type of use. That includes 827 miles too polluted for water contact recreation and 1,074 too polluted for aquatic life.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, most impairments in the state’s waters come from polluted runoff from farms and suburban and urban areas.
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In response, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said it “does not consider valid the organization’s state-by-state comparison because various factors (including definitions, methodologies, statistics, timeframes) included in each state’s data are not the same.”
It noted the numerous monitoring tools the department employs to ensure healthy waterways was part of a comprehensive approach with farmers and other partners. DNREC urged the public to read the state’s Watershed Assessment Report for accurate state data.
“Delaware has been a leader in efforts to reduce toxic contaminant pollution and overall water quality in the Delaware River, Estuary and Bay,” DNREC said in a statement.
Among the confluence of problems facing the state that led to such an assessment, the report says, are statewide problems with sewage infrastructure, the large number of slaughterhouses and factory farms such as in Sussex County, and high levels of fecal bacteria sprayed onto fields.
“The state of Delaware needs to do more to control runoff pollution from its farms,” Pelton said. “There’s a great deal of poultry waste spread on fields that runs off into streams and causing this water pollution.”
The report also identified ongoing issues such as when more than 600 Millsboro residents said that a Mountaire Farms slaughterhouse contaminated their drinking water with nitrates.
In April 2021 a judge approved a $65 million payout to residents living near the plant.
“Too many people here have no access to clean water coming out of the tap, especially in our poor and minority communities,” said Maria Payan, an activist with the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project. “The fact that Delaware has the highest percentage of impaired rivers and streams in all of the U.S. shows there is a clear failure to protect public health here.”
The report also painted a bleak picture of other types of waterways. It noted 775 square miles, or 100%, of estuaries were too polluted for any use; 774 square miles of estuaries were too polluted for aquatic life; and 1,010 miles, or 94% of rivers and streams were impaired for aquatic life.
Maryland concerns
“The blue crab state” is not without its own waterway issues as the report took aim at Maryland estuaries.
Deemed impaired by pollution, were 1,348 square miles of estuaries, making it the 11th highest nationwide.
Of the 5,331 miles of the state’s rivers and streams used for water contact recreation, 80% of it is was considered too polluted for that purpose; 57% of the 17,001 miles of rivers and streams were assessed as too polluted for aquatic life, and 58% of the 516 miles of rivers and streams assessed was found to be too polluted for fish consumption.
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“We haven’t seen any real improvement in the Chesapeake Bay over the last 20 years. Much of that is farm runoff pollution since agriculture is the top reason for it. The state has been using largely voluntary measures to follow pollution control plans,” Pelton said.
While the Maryland Department of the Environment acknowledged there is still progress to be made to comply with the Clean Water Act, it stood by its efforts thus far to improve state waterways.
“We are a national leader in making steady environmental progress with strong regulations, robust investments and innovative partnerships,” the Maryland Department of the Environment said in a statement addressing the report. “We have also helped to usher the Clean Water Act into a new age of nature-based solutions like living shorelines, green infrastructure to curb stormwater and carbon pollution.”
The department also highlighted its use of pollution-filtering oysters, mussels and eels to help with fishable, swimmable water goals.
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It also touted Gov. Larry Hogan’s $7 billion investment “for clean water over the last seven years,” while saying more progress and partnerships are needed throughout the state watershed area.
“MDE has taken significant regulatory and enforcement actions on stormwater and sewage over the last year to hold violators accountable and to grow and sustain greener infrastructure for communities throughout the state. We appreciate the report and will keep pressing for innovative and durable solutions,” the statement said.
