The Northeast-Midwest Institute’s Delaware River Basin Program helps build sound bipartisan legislative strategies for ecosystem restoration for the four-state watershed (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). Beginning in the Catskill Mountains and ending in the Delaware Bay, the Delaware River and estuary system is a defining feature of the Mid-Atlantic landscape. The 13,000-square-mile Delaware River watershed boasts eight million inhabitants, and provides drinking water to 15 million people, including over half the residents of New York City. The Institute program began in 2008 with a William Penn grant to the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The Institute’s specific role is to help raise the profile of the river basin in Washington, in large part through supporting the bipartisan Congressional Delaware River Basin Task Force in becoming a stronger voice and more effective agent for water quality improvement in the region. The Institute also advises coalition-building efforts, led by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, in the Delaware region to support a coordinated legislative strategy including efforts around the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act.

In addition to supporting the bipartisan Congressional Delaware River Basin Task Force, specific activities of NEMWI include conducting research, providing regular updates for the Congressional District offices, and organizing briefings.