Delaware Canal 21 Begins Seven Grant-Funded Projects Over Entire Waterway Length

Delaware Canal 21 is pleased to announce that work has begun on seven grant-funded improvement projects along the entire 60-mile length of the Delaware Canal State Park.  

The projects are funded by grants totaling $350,000 from The William Penn Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and are being carried out in cooperation with the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.   They include (from South to North):

·      Bristol Borough.  Collaborate with the Borough and other local partners to improve public access to the Canal at its southern terminus. The work will focus on restoring missing segments of the towpath / D&L National Trail – with specific regard to the Borough’s intent to ultimately “daylight” and re-water Mile 1. 

·      Morrisville and Yardley.  Collaborate with both Boroughs to conduct hydraulic analyses and identify measures to mitigate or eliminate Canal-related flooding in these two flood-prone communities.

·      Easton.  Collaborate with the City to evaluate various options to provide safe and accessible pedestrian and bicycle access from  downtown Easton to the head of the Delaware Canal, including a potential new ped-bike bridge over the Lehigh River.

·      Leak Mitigation (Entire Canal).  Collaborate with DCNR to research world-wide how other canals solve sink holes and other leaks that threaten waterway structural integrity – including predicting, testing monitoring, and materials/procedures technologies for sustainable remedies to water losses.

·      Water Quality (Entire Canal).  Collaborate with experienced watershed organizations across the region to develop a water quality monitoring program for the Delaware Canal. The new program will acknowledge all potential water quality issues and opportunities to protect the Delaware Canal – as a public waterway, including the challenges and benefits of multiple small streams and local watersheds that feed directly into the Canal.  

A professional team led by Simone Collins Landscape Architecture of Norristown, PA is conducting the analyses. The work being started now is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. It is funded by grants in total amount of $350,000 from The William Penn Foundation and the Pennsylvania DCNR.  “We are grateful to the William Penn Foundation and DCNR for funding these essential projects to improve the Delaware Canal and its ability to carry water reliably,” said Allen D. Black, Chairman of Delaware Canal 21.

Delaware Canal 21 is a relatively new non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to finding innovative solutions to keep water in the Canal at all times, finding new sources of funding to ensure the canal can afford first-class maintenance and necessary long range planning, and putting the Canal on a sustainable footing going forward, both financially and in terms of major maintenance.