Latest news with #DelawareRiverkeeperNetwork
CBS News
16-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Flooding threatens millions of Americans, yet many keep building homes in floodplains
An estimated 40 million Americans live in floodplains , facing a risk of catastrophic flooding that puts them and their homes in danger. That includes Steve Rodriguez, whose home near a creek in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, floods so often, he paid to raise it 10 feet. Some of his neighbors went even higher, 20 feet or more. The flooding risk is made worse by more intense rainfall driven by climate change and by unchecked development. "They've overbuilt the area and you get a lot of runoff from the malls, from the street, parking lots," Rodriguez said. Local governments are trying to solve the problem by voluntarily buying homes and demolishing them. In the last 25 years, local governments have tapped into federal programs to buy at least 14,700 homes for flood-related reasons. Many people in his neighborhood took a buyout, but Rodriguez turned it down. The way the U.S. has built in floodplains is "a huge problem," said Maya van Rossum, who leads the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a nonprofit that fights to protect the river and the communities that depend on it. Homeowners who refuse to take a buyout are sometimes offered government funds to elevate their houses, but van Rossum said that option doesn't completely protect them and contributes to possible flooding elsewhere. "It is very sad when people have suffered severe loss from a flood event, but it does a tremendous disservice for the politicians to come in and listen to their sad stories and then respond with solutions like this," she said. "Because that sad story is going to be repeated over and over and over again. And that is not fair to anybody." Rodriguez admitted people probably shouldn't live in floodplains but said the buyout offer he got in 1999 didn't make sense for him financially. The creek has flooded a dozen times since, and now he feels stuck. Van Rossum said the problem is bigger than just one homeowner. "When there's been a catastrophic event, you will see massive devastation and in the year or two following you will see massive rebuilding at great expense and then the whole cycle will happen over again," she said. National environmental reporter David Schechter and a team of CBS journalists spent five days traveling the length of the Delaware River to explore problems facing America's waterways. Watch "An American River" on Saturday, April 19, at 1 p.m. ET on CBS News 24/7. Taylor Johnston and Grace Manthey contributed to this report.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Lawsuit could stop poisoning of major river before it's too late: 'Hopefully, we've gotten to it in the nick of time'
A federal lawsuit is pressing the Environmental Protection Agency to establish new water quality standards for a 38-mile stretch of the Delaware River, per NJ Spotlight News. It may be the thing that saves the Atlantic sturgeon from extinction. Wastewater treatment plants have been filling the river with ammonia for decades. This has resulted in dangerously low oxygen levels in the water, threatening not only the Atlantic sturgeon but several other native species. As egregious as that may sound, it doesn't violate the current legal standards. Those standards have stood still since 1967. For context, that's three years before the first Earth Day ignited the environmental movement in the United States. While we still have much work to do, many of today's environmental standards are far higher than they were during the Summer of Love. Meanwhile, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network has been fighting to improve water quality standards with what many consider to be an overdue update. The environmental group's lawsuit has resulted in a pending legal agreement requiring the EPA to raise the standards for the river's required oxygen levels by June 30. While saving the Atlantic sturgeon from extinction is a huge deal, it's not the only reason to clean up the Delaware River. On top of all the other plant and animal life that depend on the river, humans depend on it too: It supplies drinking water to over 17 million people across 42 counties and five states — and that is facing enough threats already. The Delaware River also provides fishing opportunities to countless people, which means both food and money to many. Beyond that, it's just a gorgeous, historic piece of the regional landscape. Should the legal agreement to protect the river receive approval from a federal judge, it will be in what is potentially the 11th hour. "A population like the sturgeon may very well disappear from the face of the Earth for forever," Delaware Riverkeeper Maya K. van Rossum told NJ Spotlight News. "Hopefully, we've gotten to it in the nick of time." How often do you worry about the quality of your drinking water? Never Sometimes Often Always Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
