Delaware River Basin Commission Executive Director Carol R. Collier this week announced that the first of four meetings will be held in Delhi, N.Y. on February 8 to give the public an opportunity to provide feedback on the Interstate Flood Mitigation Task Force's flood loss reduction and flood mitigation draft recommendations for the Delaware River Basin.

The first session will be held at 6:30 p.m., February 8, (an informal "poster session" to review information on display will begin at 6 p.m.) at the Sen. Charles D. Cook County Office Building, 111 Main St., Main Floor, Board of Supervisors Room, Delhi, N.Y.

The other three public meetings will be held during February in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware (location information TBA). Written comments will be accepted until February 28, and should be mailed to: Robert Tudor, Deputy Executive Director, DRBC, P.O. Box 7360, 25 State Police Dr., West Trenton, NJ 08628.

"The Delaware River Basin Interstate Flood Mitigation Task Force has identified a total of 44 consensus recommendations for a more proactive, sustainable, and systematic approach to flood damage reduction," Collier said. "The task force has concluded that no set of mitigation measures will entirely eliminate impacts of flooding along the Delaware River, but the members believe that a combination of measures will improve the basin's resiliency -- its capacity to prepare for and recover from flooding -- in the future."

The recommendations are divided into six priority management areas: Reservoir operations; Structural and non-structural measures; Stormwater management; Floodplain mapping; Floodplain regulation; and Flood warning.

Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, and New York Gov. George Pataki, who serve as DRBC members, jointly sent a letter to Collier on Sept. 21, 2006 authorizing and requesting commission staff to form the interstate task force. This was followed on Sept. 27 by the formal adoption of a resolution at a commission meeting which was unanimously agreed to by the four states and DRBC Chair Lt. Col. Gwen Baker, who represents the federal government on the five-member commission.

The interstate task force convened in October 2006 and is comprised of 32 members representing a broad array of government interests (both legislative and executive) as well as private sector and non-profit perspectives. In a Dec. 29, 2006 letter, DRBC staff apprised the four governors and incoming New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer with an update on the status of the draft report and outlined the planned process to give the public an opportunity to review the recommended measures.

Following the four meetings, the task force will meet in late-February to consider public feedback and prioritize actions, as well as to formulate comments and responses before a final set of recommended measures is submitted to the governors for their consideration. DRBC Deputy Executive Director Robert Tudor is leading the staff support of this effort.

The Delaware Basin was devastated by severe floods in September 2004, April 2005, and June 2006, following a period of nearly 50 years without any widespread main stem flooding.

Additional information about the task force, including the December 2006 update letter to the governors, can be found on the DRBC website.

2/2/2007