94 Percent Of Delco's Streams Are Impaired, State Report Says

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Of Delaware County's 385 miles of streams, 363 are impaired in some way, according to a new report.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection recently released a new report on how impaired streams across the state are.

DEP researchers assessed 380 miles of streams in Delaware County for the report. Those 380 represent 98.7 percent of all streams in the county

What they found was, of those 380 assessed miles, 94.3 percent are impaired in some way.

Delaware County has the second-highest percent of impaired streams in the state, only behind Philadelphia, which has 97 percent of its streams impaired.

The state says these streams are impaired for aquatic life, recreation, fish consumption, or drinking.

Impairment can be caused by many things, but according to the report the most common forms of impairment are agricultural, storm-water runoff, and acid-mine drainage, which occurs when water flows over sulfur-bearing materials.

In Delaware County, Ridley Creek is considered impaired due to eutrophication, which is when the environment becomes overly enriched with nutrients.

Eutrophication can cause issues such as algae blooms that can produce harmful toxins to other forms of life.

Ridley Creek is not featured in the department's restoration priority strategy.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is accepting public comments on the report now through March 1.

To submit comments and see comments from other individuals, use the department's eComment tool online here. The links to view and comment on the Integrated Report will be made available in the “Open Comment Periods” section at the top of the eComment website during the public comment period.

Written comments can also be mailed to the Department of Environmental Protection, Policy Office, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box 2063, Harrisburg, PA 17105.

See the full report online here.