Delaware Canal 21 Invited to Present Paper to World Canals Conference in Ireland

Delaware Canal 21 is pleased to announce that Inland Waterways International has invited Delaware Canal 21 and its Technical Advisor William  Collins  to present a paper to the World Canals Conference in Athelone, Ireland  September 10-12, 2018. The topic will be the efforts over the past year and a half on behalf of Delaware Canal 21, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bucks County and Northampton County to investigate the possibility of creating a bi-county municipal authority to raise supplemental funding for maintenance of the Canal. 

         The concept, suggested by Delaware Canal 21, is that a municipal authority chartered by the two counties could engage in entrepreneurial activities and otherwise raise substantial supplemental money for Canal maintenance. 

         “Our goal is to see the entire Canal filled with water on a reliable basis, within a short number of years,” said Allen D Black, Chairman of Delaware Canal 21.  “Everyone acknowledges that that the state park budget will never provide enough to properly restore the Canal and provide the required preventive maintenance and capital repairs that are necessary to enable the Canal to hold water on a reliable basis.”   The concept of a bi-county municipal authority to help fund Canal maintenance is one of a number of alternatives considered.  “The bi-county municipal authority seems to be the best approach,” Black said.

         This is the second time that Delaware Canal 21 and Mr. Collins have been invited to give a paper at the World Canals Conference.  The first occasion was in Inverness Scotland in September 2016 when the topic was the 2016 Visioning Study of the Delaware Canal – how it was conducted, and its results

         “This is a marvelous moment for the Delaware Canal and for Delaware Canal 21,” said Doug Dolan, the group’s Executive Director.  “This will put the Delaware Canal on the world map, and make it a point of interest for those all over the world who have interest in canals.”

         Delaware Canal 21 is a relatively new non-profit 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.

         William Collins is a Registered Landscape Architect and principal in the firm of Simone & Collins of Norristown, PA.