Thursday July 19
From the haphazard filling of the canal 2 years ago, without proper repair, at the bidding of the Friends of The Delaware Canal, there remains a trapped pool of fish and turtles at Point Pleasant, sitting in about 6 inches of water.  The heatwave and subsequent drought this summer have dropped the water level to near nothing.
There will be a rescue Saturday morning.  Anyone able-bodied and willing please reply ASAP.  This operation will take about 2-3 hours.

Death on the Delaware Canal, New Hope 2012

 DEAD

 ALIVE

 ALIVE

 BACK TO THE RIVER

SAVED

WHAT HAVE WE HERE?

Today it is the first of June.  There are again many, many millions of animals that have died in the canal as of the past month or two.  This time the reason was the minor flood two months ago in March 2011 when the locks were opened to fill the Delaware Canal to take pressure off of the lower portion of the  Delaware River towns.  As well, the river overflowed its banks in the various northern portions of the canal.  But because the locks were opened, turtles and fish and snails and snakes were swept into the unkempt and never-repaired canal which cannot retain its water. Some water with its living cargo was swept southward past Center Bridge and then dried up and the rest was pushed to New Hope where the animals are still dying at this moment. 
This is the 6th year that volunteers have gone into the canal, night and day, to attempt to save the turtles and fish that cannot escape.  River Road is a dangerous roadway for any animal that tries to make a break for the river and the rest of the animals are unable to leave at all and just suffocate to death.  The heat of summer has already kicked in and there is no way for them to survive under the burning sun, especially in two inches of water.  More people are needed to help scoop the living ones out all the way to Odettes, and we need people to attend some very poignant meetings to prevent this from happening time and time again.  

Letter to The Editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, April 20, 2011

The Delaware Canal Conundrum at New Hope
What Jack Donahue, president of Friends of The Delaware Canal, along with the other members of his organization, and Rick Dalton of the DCNR all fail to take into account is that it is truly a godsend that they did not voluntarily pour water into the canal in the month of March, nor in this month of April, nor will they for the rest of the summer of 2011. A small but slowly evolving enclave of local residents along the Delaware Canal called the Delaware Canal Anti-Annihilation League or D-CAAL will attempt their best to prevent the haphazard and irresponsible refilling of the canal year after year until it is once and for all repaired properly and ceases to be a killing-zone for the local fauna that inhabit it. For years now the DCNR has been ordered by the "Friends" to refill the dry bed for the sake of tourism and hence appearances.  Water is deviated from the Delaware River through the locks bringing with it thousands of animals: many species of fish and turtles, mussels, snails, eels and snakes.  By fall each year they are left writhing in wet mud until they die as all of the water drains out again from the canal. This canal is a national landmark. It is a shambles and a travesty and while it ought to be given high priority as a protected habitat for regional fauna and flora, it never is. The other solution is to never refill it  again if it cannot for the first time, since the running of the mule barges,  be competently repaired.  Shame on those who think only of commerce at the expense of these silent, innocent creatures.

The Crux of The Problem Is Manyfold and Far More Complex Than You Know...

There is a broken old pump that sits below and to the eastern side of the bridge at Center Bridge and it has been broken beyond repair since the floods of 2004-06. Nonetheless, since that time, it has been sent out on numerous occasions for repair. When it runs it works off of a 220V current but what is really required is a 440V pump. In other words the pump in place was basically to weak and inexpensive from the start. On top of this it is haphazardly wired. A new pump will cost the State approximately $20,000 (tax money). On top of this cost is the fee to run it, gauged at a monthly figure of $1,200 from now to eternity with a yearly increase based on inflation. The PA Bureau of State Parks has suffered severe budget cuts over the past 3-4 years. Forty million dollars was put into the canal by FEMA, millions more by the State. Where did this money go?

It so happens that at the same time there were very serious leaks at Mechanic Street in New Hope due to seepage through the canal walls. Supposedly three of the businesses there have had water leaching into their basements during the past few trials of filling the canal. As of this winter, these walls were repointed by DCNR staff. Another place in the New Hope branch of the canal that leaks is on North Main Street by Rabbit Run Bridge. Residents there complained a great deal for years. The portion of the canal from around the boyscout camp at Bridge #2 all the way down to Lumberville is filled with innumerable leaks that have never been properly fixed. The State and its engineers, the park supervisors and The Friends of The Delaware Canal always hire the lowest bidder to do the work, (unless the DCNR does the work themselves with an insufficient task force,) and the lowest bidder never completes the reparations in a competent manner. They just want to get the show on the road, so everything looks copesetic, with no consideration for the wildlife that inhabits it.

The canal runs naturally southward from Easton but there has always been a pump since 1832 at Center Bridge. Even if it were to be replaced with the $20,000 “superior” model, is still shut off in wintertime because it cannot withstand the icey water and small icebergs that form on the edges of the Delaware River. Once it is shut off the water becomes shallower and shallower, and then there is so little water that all that remains are small pools of water with thousands of fish attempting to stay alive in them. The other animals either dry up or, as in the case of the turtles:

Most water turtles go deep into the pond and snuggle down into some mud and leaves at the bottom. Then they let themselves get cold. Their bodies slow down so they don't need to eat anymore. Their hearts slow down too so that they beat only once every few minutes. They stop breathing through their lungs. Because their bodies are running at such a slow speed, they don't need much oxygen, but they do need some. They can get the small amount of oxygen they need from the water. It sinks in through some specialized skin cells that are just inside the tail opening. That's right! They "breathe" through their tails! Water turtles can stay like this for two or three months. (How Turtles Hibernate Throughout The Winter; http://www.turtlepuddle.org/kidspage/hibernation.html)

Even if they could live through the winter, just like the giant snails that live around here, (half the size of a tennis ball), and who are able to withstand many months out of water,  under the steaming Pennsylvanian summer sun, and prolonged temperatures of 85-105 degrees, they die within a week. Many of the snakes and the turtles could potentially climb out of the dry bed and emigrate to the Delaware River which is within reach in many spots, but unfortunately River Road in the way, and they are killed by vehicles. People walking the free bridge from Lambertville to New Hope in summer stop to admire and smile at how the turtles congregate to sun themselves up on the footings of the piers. Those are the same creatures that get swept to their death every year only one hundred feet away on the PA side of the river.

The Three Foot Limit

There is now in place a three foot height limit to the filling of the water in the canal. This is because if this height is exceeded the water will leak tremendously. But only above three feet will the fish and other inhabitants remain alive in winter. Fish naturally can remain in a type of suspended animation in their hibernation throughout a winter in cold water. But the water must be over three feet of water to prevent a deep freezing. If the water is three feet or under three feet all of the inhabitants will die. So they'd be killed, even if we there were to be some water in this portion of the canal, because the leaks were never fixed and the water would be too shallow.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO COUNT TO A MILLION?

Costs of Canal Repair: UNCOUNTABLE???

The Aqueduct at Point Pleasant: 2.5 million

The Lock at New Hope (Lock #11): 1 million

FEMA Involvement after the 3 floods of 2004-2006

The FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) assessment is completed at last. The agency has unofficially set the cost of repairing the flood damage at $22 million. The official approval is expected soon. Federal funds will cover 75% of the total; the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is expected to supply the remaining 25% ($5.5 million). Meanwhile $200,000 in fed- eral funds has been released for use by the State already, with $3 million to follow in the next few months. (Friends of The Delaware Canal, Canal News, Autumn 2005 http://www.fodc.org/pdfs/newsletterarchive/canalnews905.pdf)

Published: Monday, March 16, 2009, 11:04 PM  

NEW HOPE, Pa. -- About $40 million in federal and state funds is being spent to repair three seasons' worth of flood damage inflicted on the Delaware Canal. Although the work is moving along, canoe owners and fisherman will not be putting their gear in the water anytime soon...Contracts of more than $19 million were awarded to rebuild heavily devastated areas to the canal near Easton and in Upper Bucks County.

The $30 million from FEMA and the $10 million in state funds for the flood project are welcomed by communities along the canal. Unfortunately for them, there is still much maintenance and repair work to be done that has been stalled for years. Given the condition of the Pennsylvania budget, there is little reason to expect a large infusion of capital funds.

Budgets insufficient to carry out maintenance or capital projects have been the rule as the canal bed, its banks, flood gates and locks continued to deteriorate for years.(NJ.com; http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2009/03/canal_work_flows_along.html)

The coffer dam at Centre Bridge that is used to hold pumped water in the section of the Canal used by the New Hope Canal Boat Ride was washed away and is in the process of being rebuilt by Park personnel. (Friends of The Delaware Canal Newsletter; http://www.fodc.org/pdfs/newsletterarchive/canalnews706.pdf)

Published: July 19, 2010

Following a $29 million flood repair project that took two-and-a-half years to complete, the historic Delaware Canal State Park will reopen this week with a celebration at the Forks of the Delaware Recreation Area in Easton. (Bucks Local News http://www.buckslocalnews.com/articles/2010/07/19/the_advance/news/doc4c44abc6542b4805918359.txt)

Excuse me, but how long exactly would it take for any one person to count to a million? Can anyone reading this conceive of such numbers? 

FUN FACTS

Naturally, that depends on how fast you can count. But if you can count from 1 to 100 in one minute, and you keep counting every minute, without stopping, for eight hours every day (taking time off to eat, sleep, and go to school), you would reach 1,000,000 in 20 days, 6 hours, and 40 minutes, or almost 3 weeks. 

If, however, you give up eating, sleeping, and school, and just count every minute of every hour of every day, you would reach 1,000,000 in 6 days, 22 hours, and 40 minutes, almost 1 week.(http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-count-to-1-million)

This is our taxpayer money.  You and I pay money to The State whether you are a home owner, a renter, an employer or an employee in Pennsylvania. Don't you want a say if you know that your dollars are being wasted, or being used merely for the sake of appearances and then the death of local wildlife?
This year, 2011, the DCNR has $27,000,000 at its disposal from The State to be used to pay its employees and for the management and repair of its parks and the canal system. We need to be able to have a say in whether they fix the canal properly this time before it is refilled, or whether the past is repeated again and again.


PLEASE STAY TUNED AND INFORMED TO FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN HELP. 


AND SIGN THE PETITION.

WHO EXACTLY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ANIMALS DYING IN DROVES?

In their mission statement “The Friends of The Delaware Canal” have written:

The Friends of the Delaware Canal is an independent, not-for-profit organization working to restore, preserve and improve the Delaware Canal and its surroundings. Our primary goals are to ensure that…

the canal is fully watered from Easton to Bristol;

the towpath trail is useable over its entire length.

We embrace this mission in order to sustain a unique link to our heritage, protect diverse and valuable natural areas, provide recreational opportunities, and enable the canal to serve as a community and economic asset. (http://www.fodc.org/pdfs/canalnews109%20final.pdf)

Year after year, in keeping with their mission, "The Friends of The Delaware Canal" have been an unstoppable force in seeing that the canal be “fully watered”. 
They were in fact called three years ago and asked what was going on and could they please stop filling and refilling the leaking canal because there were hundreds of huge fish every year left flopping around in the mud after all the waters had disappeared. We were told that everyone felt
very bad about the animals, and no one wanted to see them hurt but there was nothing that could be done.

No, nothing that could be done, 
nothing that can be done, 
nothing can be done, 
absolutely nothing that can be done, 
nope, nothing could possibly resolve this issue,
no, naw, nope. 
Too bad for those poor animals. 
Wow, WE ARE REALLY SORRY, BUT 
NOTHING CAN BE DONE.

Yeah, wow...


Well, we'll have to see about that, won't we?  
              

Peace Out 

                                                                      photo furnished courtesy of NateBal.com

Experiments Kill Even More Animals

Last year in the month of July, newspapers all over the Delaware Valley reported the celebratory reopening of the canal to the joyful cries of the people inhabiting all the little towns from Easton to Bristol, PA. The Philadelphia Inquirer's reporter Larry King wrote on July 24, 2010, the following:

EASTON, Pa. - In the festive presence of kayakers, speechmakers, bicyclists, and a straw-hatted woman joyously blatting on a conch-shell horn, a storm-tossed relationship was renewed Friday. Water and the Delaware Canal, after a six-year separation, are together again. Standing at the head of the 58.9-mile canal, by the scenic convergence of the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers, state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary John Quigley opened a stop gate and the Lehigh current flowed again into the historic waterway.The "rewatering" ceremony marks the first time the canal - except for a small, leaky span in New Hope - is being filled end-to-end since 2004."It is being brought back to life today," Quigley said.Actually, the vital signs have been strengthening for some time. The Delaware-fed stretch of the canal south of New Hope has held water since spring, and the Easton-to-Raubsville stretch had been test-filled in June. It will take about a week for the rest of it to fill, said Rick Dalton, Delaware Canal State Park manager. (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100724_Ceremony_marks__quot_rewatering_quot__of_the_Delaware_Canal.html)

Is it really fair to keep running experiments, or better said keep filling the canal for the sake of appearances, as was done last summer when the canal was opened at Easton and the water allowed to travel the entire distance to well below New Hope? As of November 2010, thirty miles worth of animals who were unable to escape were dead. They cannot swim in 1-2 inches of water to safety, they cannot escape the burning summer sun, and if they could crawl away how far could they get? Certainly not beyond the  fairly recently inadequately constructed, broken but very expensive aqueduct by the Locktender's house in New Hope. That's the aqueduct that stands directly in front of the nose of some very, very important people, mind you. We'll discuss that very soon. Stay tuned...