Salty ocean water has been creeping up the Delaware River, a drinking water source for Philadelphia. The contamination has been exacerbated by rising sea levels and has prompted officials to tap the reservoir to push the salty water out.
What's happening?
"There are alternative sources, but we don't want to be trucking in bottled water for people," Amy Shallcross, the water resource operations manager at the Delaware River Basin Commission told the Guardian. "We get nervous when it starts to get up near Philadelphia. It's only 18 miles right now from the drinking water intakes. And sometimes it can shoot upstream really quickly."
Many reservoirs are also facing the same concerns as sea levels and dredged riverbeds are rising. Drought conditions also induce the conditions — without rain to move the river line back to its normal location, the salty water remains a threat.
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Never 👎 Why is the salt line important?
Saltwater cannot be consumed by humans. If salt infiltrates the drinking water of millions of citizens, a new drinking water source will be needed. At a time when water is becoming a precious resource, bound to the whims of environmental changes, this is not an easy task.
Water managers are considering even more serious conservation measures: "I would say the east is not water-rich, we're water adequate, and we need to recognize that," Shallcross told the Guardian.
According to the BBC, almost a third of the world experienced extreme drought for three months or longer in 2023. This has massively grown from the 5% of drought conditions in the 1980s. In addition to this, the sea level reached its highest ever measured in 2022 — growing at an average rate of 1.77 millimeters per year.
What's being done about the drinking water source?
Officials control the salt line by releasing water from two reservoirs, which pushes the front downriver. This is likely to happen as the salty water moves closer to Philadelphia. The commission monitors the flow at Trenton, New Jersey, which is the furthest upstream point affected by the tide. The flow officials' target is roughly equivalent to the amount of water "in two Olympic-sized swimming pools flowing by per minute. If the rate dips below that, then more water is released," according to the Guardian.
While the drinking water was not imminently at risk as of November, officials were closely monitoring the effects of the drought on the river and studying options if the issue persists.
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