Thinking Citizen Blog — Rivers of the United States VI: The Delaware — Geography, History, Pollution
Thinking Citizen Blog — Wednesday is Climate Change, the Environment, and Sustainability Day
Today’s Topic — Rivers of the United States VI: The Delaware — geography, history, pollution
So far in this series, I have written about the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Hudson, the Charles, and the Potomac. Today, the river immortalized in the painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” (Emanuel Leutze, 1851). Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
BASICS — Catskills, Boundaries, Delaware Bay
1. Sources: two branches in the Catskill mountains in New York.
2. Boundaries: between Pennsylvania and New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and Delaware and New Jersey.
3. Delaware Bay: the estuary is second busiest waterway in the United States (after the Mississippi River).
NB: the Delaware is 419 miles long if you include the estuary, 388 without it.
POLLUTION CLEAN UP — lots of progress, room for improvement
1. In 2012, the Delaware ranked as the 5th most polluted river in the United States.
2. The biggest corporate source of pollution is the Dow Chemical Company.
3. The goals of swimability and fishability have not yet been reached in the Philadelphia/Chester area.
NB: On the other hand, the Dupont Chamber Works has cut its emissions of nitrates by over 60% since 1987, and pollution from sewage, oil refineries, and slaughterhouses have been drastically reduced since the 1960s. At the cost of about a trillion dollars, “the clean-up of the Delaware is hailed as one of the world’s top water quality success stories.” (last link, official state of New Jersey website). Do any experts out there want to chime in?
ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC IMAGES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY
1. Destination: Trenton
2. Time: Christmas Eve, 1776
3. Outcome of Battle of Trenton (12/26): complete surprise and victory!
NB: a small battle but a huge boost to morale and to recruitment.
Delaware River is 5th most polluted river in U.S., environmental group says
Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851 painting)
The death of the Delaware River
Delaware River Basin Commission|Delaware River Water Quality: A Brief Recap
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to climate change or the environment. Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to climate change that the rest of us may have missed. Your favorite chart or table perhaps…
This is your chance to make some one’s day. Or to cement in your own mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart.
