WHYY Presents: Preserving Our Water—How We Use the Delaware Watershed

Coastal Zone Act
Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act dictates how we plan our coastline from the Delaware River, the estuary of rivers, the Delaware Bay and beaches. We look through archive footage on how it came to be.
Introducing Secretary Garvin. Delaware’s new DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin talks about how Delaware’s waters and environment will be managed under an EPA that could change certain priorities.
Sandy Habitat
An ambitious program to look at areas in the Delaware Bay that were damaged during the 2012 mega-storm are undergoing a large fortification plan. It was to have been rolled out this spring. Now, it appears it won’t start until later in the year.
The Clean Water and Flood Abatement Task Force was created 2 years ago. Now new recommendations are being released on how we can support our water infra-structure. Some of them involve new fees, which could prove controversial. State Senator Bryan Townsend, (D) Bear, tells why he believes this plan will get a better hearing that a plan two years ago presented by former Governor Jack Markell.
The fresh water mussel is an important part of the Delaware aquatic eco-system. It’s making a comeback, which is good news. We present a bivalve educational report.
Fishing season is here
A by-product of the Coastal Zone Act is the lessening of pollutants in Delaware River and streams. That means state regulations limiting fish catches are going to be increased.