Introduction | Stormwater Utility Feasibility | Water Rate Survey | Water Supply Model | Sanitary Sewer Model | Source Water Protection | Water Supply as Newark's Life Source

Introduction

Billions of gallons of water have flowed over the dam since the Water Resources Agency board came together for regional water planning and management in 1977.  That year, the Cities of Newark and Wilmington joined with New Castle County to form a policy board and fund the Water Resources Agency for New Castle County.  In 1990, the State of Delaware was added as the 4th voting member of the policy board.   In 1998 the Governor’s office, the three local governments, and University authorized the WRA to relocate to the University of Delaware as part of the Institute for Public Administration within the College of Human Services, Education, and Public Policy.  On campus, the UDWRA mission is to provide water resources assistance to governments in Delaware and Delaware Valley through the public service, education, and research role of the University.

The City of Newark recently completed the new reservoir, the first water supply impoundment in Delaware since the Great Depression.  The City also successfully funded new water treatment plants along the White Clay Creek and at the south wellfield, The City was one of the first to employ open space zoning and now almost all of the floodplain along the White Clay Creek and Upper Christina River are now part of the park system.  Newark is one of the only towns that employs a utility approach and publicly maintains storm water facilities.  Along with the county, the city of Newark is a key signatory to the White Clay Creek Wild and Scenic River Watershed Management Plan.

Water Rate Survey 

We completed a water rate survey of over 60 water purveyors in Delaware and surrounding states of Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.  We update the water rate survey every 4 years; the last editions were in 2000 and 2004.  In 2000, Newark’s water rates were very low, in the lowest 10% percentile of all purveyors surveyed in 4 states.  Our earlier water survey was used by Newark to incrementally raise water rates to a level still very affordable to City residents and fund the Newark Reservoir.   Presently, Newark’s water rates are in the 30th percentile, still quite low compared to other purveyors in Delaware and in adjacent states.

Newark Water Supply Model

The University of Delaware, Institute for Public Administration – Water Resources Agency prepared a water supply distribution model for the City of Newark Water and Wastewater Department using United States Environmental Protection Agency EPANET 2 software.   EPANET 2 is a computer simulation model designed to predict the hydraulics of pressurized water distribution pipe networks.  The network consists of pipes (links), nodes (junctions), pumps, valves, storage tanks, and reservoirs.  EPANET 2 models the flow and velocity in each pipe, the pressure at each node, and the height of water in each tank.  EPANET 2 runs on a laptop or personal computer using Windows operating system which allows point and click entry of input data and color coded output maps, tables and graphs.   One of the advantages of this model is the software is free and can be used in a point and click format on a laptop or personal computer.  University of Delaware civil engineering students assisted in the development of this model which includes 925 pipes and 680 nodes.

Newark Sanitary Sewer Model

The UD Water Resources Agency is constructing a sanitary sewer model for the City of Newark using the USEPA SWMM model.

Newark Source Water Protection

The UD Water Resources Agency prepared a report summarizing the natural resources protected by the City of Newark’s municipal code in the source waters (Levels 1A, 1B, and 2) upstream from the drinking water intakes along the White Clay/Red Clay Creeks above Stanton and the Christina River at Smalley’s Pond.  This GIS analysis tabulates the area already protected by code as part of Newark’s approach to meet the Delaware Source Water Protection Law of 2001.  Level 1A areas are defined as 100-year floodplains and/or erosion-prone slopes, and Level 1B areas as buffer areas 200 feet from each side of streams.  For the purposes of this study Level 2 areas are areas of the watersheds which lie within the corporate limits of Newark.

Water Supply as Newark’s Life Source

Like many cities along the Atlantic seaboard, Newark was founded at a fortuitous location along the banks of streams such as the Christina River and White Clay Creek that could provide plentiful supplies for mill power and potable water.  From the 17th century when the Lenni Lenape lived in Opasiskunk along the White Clay Creek to the opening of the Newark Reservoir in 2006, Newark’s growth flowed from the water supplies from these creeks and the ancient aquifers that flow under the city.  Today after 250 years, Newark is uniquely the only town in Delaware able to access drinking water from both ground and surface water supply sources.