We're kicking off a PHOTO-THON this summer to protect the Delaware River region! You can participate by sharing and posting your #StaycationInTheBasin photos to #ProtectTheDelaware! Fill out this form to get started.
Delaware River Basin At Risk
The Delaware River Basin is an important region that attracts millions of people each year who enjoy hiking, fishing, boating, wildlife watching and vacationing. We recently won a decade-long fight to permanently ban fracking in the Basin! This is an incredible victory, but the Basin in still at risk. The Delaware River Basin Commission, the body charged with overseeing the Delaware River Basin watershed, will soon release preliminary rules that could allow drilling companies to withdraw water from the basin for fracking and then discharge fracking wastewater back into the basin. This will put the entire region and watershed at risk.
Join the #StaycationInTheBasin PHOTO-THON!
Let’s show the Delaware River Basin Commission how important the Basin is to you, your family and friends - and why its so important to protect it now and for generations to come! What is your favorite way to enjoy this beautiful area? It's easy to participate now and all summer long by:
- Planning a visit to the Delaware River Basin. This includes Delaware River and Bay plus all of the areas that drain into the waterway such as Delaware Bay in Cape May, Delaware Water Gap and even Narrowsburg, New York!
- Taking and posting photos on Social Media of you and your friends and family having fun in the Delaware River Basin! When you post, please tag @DRBC1961 on Twitter and @CleanH20Action on Twitter & Instagram and Clean Water Action on Facebook. Also, be sure to include the hashtag #StaycationInTheBasin #ProtectTheDelaware in your posts.
- Submit your photos by completing this form. We will pick our favorites and share them on all of our social media accounts and we will also send them to the DRBC! File types accepted: GIF, JPG, and PNG. Maximum upload size: 2 MB.
- Photo Ideas: Having dinner in a river town, enjoying the downtown ambience, climbing a mountain nearby the river, paddling down the river, fishing on the river, supporting a local business near the river.
We also recommend that you submit your comments directly to the DRBC here and be sure to sign up for email updates as well, so you can find out when DRBC announces they are accepting official public comments on these preliminary rules. We will need as many people as possible to submit comments saying NO to any fracking activities in this watershed!
Where is the Delaware River basin?
[Photo of map of the watershed area]
What is fracking and what exactly is the threat posed by these new rules?
Fracking, also known as high-volume hydraulic fracturing, is the process of injecting pressurized water mixed with sand and other chemicals into bedrock to release gas. The good news is that Clean Water Action and our allies recently helped secure an incredible victory to finally ban fracking in the the Delaware River basin due to the potential harmful impacts to drinking water! However, DRBC is still considering allowing external natural gas companies to take water from the basin for fracking and to dump their fracking wastewater into the basin.
Withdrawing water from the watershed will be detrimental to the more than 13 million people who rely upon the Delaware River Basin’s waters for their drinking water. Discharging fracking wastewater back into the watershed could expose this pristine watershed to toxic pollutants. The DRBC can try to make rules regulating these withdrawals and discharges, but the simplest and safest answer is for the DRBC to just say NO to any fracking activities in the basin at all. It is time for our region to invest in the clean energy technology of the future and stop wasting resources and polluting watersheds with the dirty energy technology of the past.
Folks have been coming to the Delaware River and the basin for decades to swim, camp, boat, hike, fish, and cool off. This summer, after a long hard year of staying home, families are looking for a safe place to relax and enjoy some hard-earned vacation time that doesn’t require getting on an airplane. Let’s show DRBC that this watershed is far more valuable as a recreation area than as a source for fracking fluids and a dumping ground for waste.
Join our #StaycationInTheBasin PHOTO-THON and share this with all of your family and friends!
By filling out the form and submitting / sharing my photo for this campaign, I acknowledge that I agree to Clean Water Action & Clean Water Fund's photo/video/content consent, waiver of liability, and release form: I hereby consent to allow my photo, video, and content for use for news, web casts, promotional purposes, telecasts, advertising, inclusion on web sites, tweets or any other purpose by Clean Water Action (CWA) or Clean Water Fund (CWF). I hereby release CWA and CWF, together with their directors, officers, employees, agents, attorneys, volunteers, consultants and consulting staff, from any liability connected with the taking, recording, digitizing, or publication of interviews, photographs, computer images, video and/or or sound recordings. This does not waive any insurance policy held by CWA or CWF. I hereby waive all rights I may have to any claims for payment or royalties in connection with any exhibition, streaming, webcasting, televising, or other publication of these materials, regardless of the purpose or sponsoring of such exhibiting, broadcasting, webcasting, or other publication irrespective of whether a fee for admission or sponsorship is charged. I also waive any right to inspect or approve any photo, video, or audio recording taken by CWA or CWF or the person or entity designated to do so by CWA or CWF.I hereby declare that I am at least eighteen (18) years of age and am legally competent to execute this release or that my parent or guardian set forth below has executed this release on my behalf.