Point Pleasant Pump Provides Water to Fill Canal

At long last water is flowing once again in the Delaware Canal from Point Pleasant through Lumberville, and down to Centre Bridge, an area that has been dry for the better part of the last 10 to 15 years.. The source: the giant Point Pleasant Pumping Station that was built amidst great environmental controversy in the mid 1980s to supply water to, among other things, the nuclear power plant in Limerick, Montgomery County.  Water from the Pump has been flowing into the Canal since Tuesday as the result of an agreement first suggested by Delaware Canal 21 and brokered by State Senator Chuck McIlhinney. 

The agreement between the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and the Forest Park Water Authority, owner-operator of the Point Pleasant Pump, provides that the pump will supply emergency backup water whenever the natural flow of water in the Canal is interrupted by upstream collapse of infrastructure, canal or roadway construction or other reason.    

Delaware Canal 21 Chairman Allen D. Black praised the Forest Park Water Authority for providing the water so badly needed for the Canal, and thanked Senator McIlhinney and State Rep. Marguerite Quinn for their roles in facilitating the agreement. “I can’t help but note the irony,” Black said, “that the Pump that was the center of so much environmental protest in the 1980’s is now being used to benefit the environment and the Canal.  This is indeed a happy day.”

Delaware Canal 21 first suggested in 2014 that the Point Pleasant Pumping Station would be a logical source of backup water for the Canal.  At the request of Delaware Canal 21 Senator McIlhinney arranged a meeting that resulted in a back-up watering agreement between the State Park and the Water Authority. 

DCNR completed the necessary docket application and received approval from the Delaware River Basin Commission paving the way for the agreement with the water authority.  The agreement has been approved for a six months test with a possible extension of an additional six months for a total one-year test period by the Delaware River Basin Commission.  The goal is to make the arrangement permanent at the completion of the test.

People living in Lumberville, where the Canal has been dry for the better part of the last ten to fifteen years, are elated by the prospect of having a reliable source of water. “I’m delighted,” said Lumberville resident Bill Tinsman. “When the Canal has water it is astonishingly beautiful, but when it’s dry it’s nothing but an ugly overgrown ditch and a health hazard because of the West Nile virus”. 

Delaware Canal 21 is a private 501(c)(3) non-profit whose goals are:

·      To see the Delaware Canal fully watered from end to end on a sustainable and reliable basis, and   

·      To ensure the Canal has adequate maintenance, including preventive maintenance, and sufficient long-range planning to keep the Canal watered reliably, and 

·      To improve public access to the Canal throughout its length.

DCNR manages the 60-mile long Delaware Canal State Park that includes the historic canal and towpath.