Delaware River

The Delaware River is a river on the Atlantic coast of the United States. The Delaware was explored by Adriaen Block as part of the New Netherlands Colony, and was named the South River to mark the southernmost reach of that colony.

It meets tide-water at Trenton, New Jersey. Its total length, from the head of the longest branch to the capes, is 410 miles (660 km), and above the head of the bay its length is 360 miles (579 km). The mean freshwater discharge of the Delaware River into the estuary is 11,550 cubic feet (330 m³) per second.

It constitutes in part the boundary between Pennsylvania and New York, the boundary between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and, for a few miles, the boundary between Delaware and New Jersey. William Penn delegated defence responsibilites of predominantly Quaker Pennsylvania to Delaware by setting the New Jersey border to the mean low tide line on the Jersey side of the river.

Commerce was once important on the upper river, primarily prior to railway competition (1857).

The Delaware division of the Pennsylvania Canal, running parallel with the river from Easton to Bristol, opened in 1830.
The Delaware and Raritan Canal, running from Trenton to New Brunswick, unites the waters of the Delaware and Raritan rivers.
The Morris Canal and the Delaware and Hudson Canal connect the Delaware and Hudson rivers.
The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal joins the waters of the Delaware with those of the Chesapeake Bay.

The mean tides below Philadelphia are about 6 feet. The magnitude of the commerce of Philadelphia has made the improvements of the river below that port of great importance. Small improvements were attempted by Pennsylvania as early as 1771.

In the "project of 1885" the United States government undertook systematically the formation of a 26 ft (8 m) channel 600 ft (180 m) wide from Philadelphia to deep water in Delaware Bay. The River and Harbor Act of 1899 provided for a 30 foot (9 m) channel 600 feet (180 m) wide from Philadelphia to the deep water of the bay.

Course

The main, west or Mohawk branch rises in Schoharie County, New York, about 1886 feet (575 m) above the sea, near Mount Jefferson, and flows tortuously through the plateau in a deep trough, impounded at one point to create Cannonsville Reservoir, the largest in New York City's water supply system, then becoming the state boundary at the 42nd parallel, until it emerges from the Catskills. Similarly, the East Branch begins from a small pond south of Grand Gorge in the town of Roxbury in Delaware County, flowing southward toward its impoundment by New York City to create Pepacton Reservoir. The confluence is just south of Hancock.

After leaving the mountains and plateau, the river flows down broad Appalachian valleys, skirts the Kittatinny range, which it crosses at the Delaware Water Gap, between nearly vertical walls of sandstone, and passes through a quiet and charming country of farm and forest, diversified with plateaus and escarpments, until it crosses the Appalachian plain and enters the hills again at Easton, Pa. From this point it is flanked at intervals by fine hills, and in places by cliffs, of which the finest are the Hockamixon Rocks, 3 miles (5 km) long and above 200 feet (60 m) high.

At Trenton there is a fall of 8 feet (2.4 m). Below Trenton the river flows between Philadelphia, PA and New Jersey before becoming a broad, sluggish inlet of the sea, with many marshes along its side, widening steadily into its great estuary, Delaware Bay.

Tributaries

Its main tributaries in New York are Mongaup and Neversink rivers and Callicoon Creek; from Pennsylvania, Lackawaxen, Lehigh, and Schuylkill rivers; and from New Jersey, Rancocas Creek and Musconetcong and Maurice rivers. Oldmans and Raccoon creeks are tributaries in New Jersey.

Flooding

Although not particularly known as a river that is prone to excessive flooding, the Delaware has in fact experienced a number of serious flooding events as the result of snow melt and/or rain run-off from heavy rainstorms. Record flooding occurred in the August 1955, in the aftermath of tropical storms. The river gauge at Riegelsville, NJ recorded an all time record crest of 38.85 feet on 8/19/1955. More recently, the same gauge recorded a peak of 34.07 feet on 4/4/2005. Source: USGS See Also: (State of New Jersey: RECENT FLOODING EVENTS IN THE DELAWARE RIVER BASIN)

Since the upper Delaware basin has few population centers along its banks, flooding in this area mainly affects natural unpopulated flood plains. The towns of Easton, PA and Phillipsburg, NJ in the middle part of the Delaware basin experience flooding problems from time to time. The City of Trenton, NJ and surrounding areas in PA and NJ also suffer from Delaware flooding problems. The lower part of the Delaware basin from Philadelphia southward to the Delware Bay is tidal and much wider than portions further north, and is not prone to river related flooding (although tidal surges can cause minor flooding in this area).

Crossings

The Delaware River is a major barrier to travel between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Most of the larger bridges are tolled only westbound, and are owned by the Delaware River and Bay Authority, Delaware River Port Authority, Burlington County Bridge Commission or Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.

Major oil spills

A number of oil spills have taken place in the Delaware over the years.

1975-01-31 — 11,000,000 gallions of crude oil spilled from the Corinthos tanker
1985-09-28 — 435,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from the Grand Eagle tanker after running aground on Marcus Hook Bar
1989-06-24 — 306,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from the Presidente Rivera tanker after running aground on Claymont Shoal
2004-11-26 — 265,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from the Athos 1 tanker; the tanker's hull had been punctured by a submerged, discarded anchor

Notes

References

External links

Delaware River | Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States

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