Rendell asks N.Y. for water release

In an unexpected change of course, Gov. Rendell yesterday called on New York City to release more water from its three brimming reservoirs in the Catskills, on the chance that the lowered levels will help protect residents along the Delaware River from flooding.

While still not convinced of a connection between reservoir levels and three devastating floods along the Delaware since September 2004, Rendell thought it "prudent" to take this action, "given the forecast for rain in the near future," said spokesman Chuck Ardo.

The governor "believes that it is certainly a wiser course . . . to take preventative action rather than wait for proof that might come in the form of a damaging and costly flood," Ardo said late yesterday afternoon.

Specifically, Rendell is asking for greater releases than are typical for this time of year, when New York keeps the man-made lakes at or near capacity as a hedge against summer drought. Theoretically, his proposal - to last only through April 30 - would provide more storage space in the reservoirs to capture storm water, which would then be channeled to the river in a controlled fashion.

In the last two months, rainfall in the basin's northeastern Pennsylvania and southeastern New York counties has been more than double the normal amount, according to the National Weather Service. The government's long-range forecast calls for above-normal rainfall in virtually the entire eastern United States.

Any changes in the operation of the reservoirs require the unanimous consent of all four basin states - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York - and New York City. They are parties to the 1954 Supreme Court decree that governs flow-management in the Delaware River basin.

Yesterday, New York City - which provides drinking water from the three reservoirs to nine million people - was making no promises.

"We're just learning the details of this request and we are evaluating it," Michael Saucier, spokesman for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, said in an e-mail sent shortly after 6 p.m. "We look forward to working with the governor on this issue."

Representatives for New Jersey and Delaware could not be reached for comment.

Flood victims, who have been calling on Rendell for at least two years to pressure New York into creating year-round storage space, or "voids," in the reservoirs, were stunned by the governor's action.

Lower Makefield resident Scott Burgess is one of more than 10,000 people who've joined the campaign. "I'm thrilled," said Burgess, who formed the 200-member Residents Against Flood Trends after the most recent flood, in June 2006, left his basement under several feet of water.

Since then, he has kept a wary eye on Web sites that track water levels in the reservoirs.

That has been Diane Tharp's routine from her riverside home just north of the Delaware Water Gap. The elementary school teacher, a three-time flood victim, launched the crusade for year-round reservoir voids in 2004 and has been an outspoken critic of Rendell's failure to join the cause.

Yesterday, she praised him for realizing "that something has to be done." But she maintained her call for creating voids and for equipping the New York reservoirs with valves that that could handle even larger releases.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, whose district includes a number of Bucks County communities along the Delaware, issued a statement saying: "I strongly agree with [Rendell's] commonsense call for action."

Science has yet to determine any link between the reservoirs and flooding along the Delaware. A $765,000 study by the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Weather Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Delaware River Basin Commission is expected to yield answers early next year.

With only a temporary plan on the horizon, Burgess was trying to keep yesterday's news in perspective.

"I won't sleep easier quite yet," he said. "But it's a step in the right direction."