"Preserving Our River" was an issue book developed to provoke public discussion of water pollution in the Nanticoke River watershed in western Sussex County, Delaware. It offered several possible approaches to the complex problem, so that forum participants could weigh the pros and cons of various pollution-control strategies. Here is the introduction to Approach 3 (and the cover and sample page).
 

Approach 3: Take immediate action to address the obvious degradation of Broad Creek and the Nanticoke River
 

By Terry Plowman

Jack Knowles, 58, has been fishing the Nanticoke River since he was a child. He remembers when, as a young man in the 1970s, he could net 100 shad in a day. In all of 1999, he caught about six.

This year, because habitat loss and water quality problems in the river have caused a dramatic decline in the population, the river is closed to shad fishing.

It doesnít take an expert to see that water quality in the Nanticoke River is in trouble. Evidence is everywhere: the algae infestation of several ponds in the area, robbing waters of life-giving oxygen; the 1997 discovery of the lethal form of the micro-organism Pfiesteria in the nearby Pocomoke River; the closure of Trap Pond to swimming due to bacteria levels higher than those recommended for primary contact recreation.

The accumulation of indicators large and small points to an obvious conclusion: action to rescue the river and its tributaries is urgently needed, say proponents of Approach 3.

We have to stop talking about the problem and do something about it, they say. Current laws, regulations and plans havenít worked. Itís time for new plans and real action, they urge ó not more study, more blue-ribbon panels, more legislative debate.

Proponents of Approach 3 say we need urgent action for many reasons: to protect property values; to safeguard human and environmental health; and to restore ecological balance to the watershed, for example.

But there is no greater reason than this, they maintain: we have a moral obligation to preserve the Nanticoke River and its tributaries for future generations. We must act now if we do not want the degradation of the river to be our legacy to our children and grandchildren, say proponents of Approach 3.

They note that the most compelling reason for action now is the fact that whatever we do will take years to show an effect. Because it takes so long for polluted groundwater to trickle into the Nanticoke River system, and because pollutants remain in underwater sediment, even if we somehow stopped all nonpoint-source pollution today, it would be 20 or 30 years before nutrient levels dropped in local waterways.

Delaying action will only delay the eventual cleanup that is already long overdue.