Dried waterways stun residents, leave fish stranded, and hurt outdoor tourism

Vince Spaits took a recent three-mile hike along the Coplay and Jordan Creeks in Lehigh County, and what the avid outdoorsman saw astonished him — dried sections of creek beds lined with hundreds of dead fish.

“I walked in places where there should have been three and four feet of water. I looked for lower spots that were still a little damp. And that’s where you find all these dead fish,” said Spaits. “As the stream dried up, the fish kept on heading towards where they could find water, and they ended up in these little ponds of water that eventually dried up. They were trapped and died right there.”

Spaits, vice president of the nonprofit Lehigh River Stocking Association, estimates he saw 300 to 400 dead fish along his walk. He knows almost every stream, creek, and river in the area intimately, having stocked them with trout over decades.

“I can never remember a time where this many streams have gone dry for this many months,” said Spaits, who is 65.

Residents throughout the region, from the Lehigh Valley to the Philly suburbs and New Jersey’s Pinelands, have taken to social media with pictures of once-vibrant waterways reduced to puddles. They have crossed on foot what were once lakes. And, for some, it has meant a financial hit as kayaking tourism dwindled with drought.

The recent rain has no doubt helped, but not enough to replenish struggling waterways, some of which are at or near record low levels. Many parts of the region have hovered near 10 inches of rain deficit, which could take months to recover, despite more rain in the forecast for the days ahead. Precipitation as measured at Philadelphia International Airport was well above normal through mid-August. Since then, rainfall has been 81% below normal, even with the 1.1 inches of rain that fell last week.

The drought that began in August, but intensified in September, October, and November, has taken its toll. Both Pennsylvania and New Jersey have declared drought watches, asking people to voluntarily conserve water.

Officials said last week that the flow of the Delaware River had dropped 40% by Tuesday, prior to Wednesday’s rain. That has had the effect of driving the salty water coming up the river from the Atlantic Ocean northward to within 20 miles of an intake for drinking water for Philadelphia. The salt line is a measurement of the concentration of salinity that separates salt and fresh water.

» READ MORE: What the Delaware River ‘salt line’ is, and why we should care where it is

Consider that the Lehigh River’s flow last week was 20% of what is typical this time of year, according to U.S. Geological Survey gauge data. In October, Perkiomen Creek dropped well below its 43-year low record discharge of 7.92 cubic feet per second and is currently at 40% of normal. The Wading River in the Pinelands set a low flow record this year, and is currently flowing at 26% of the typical level.

Tom Gyory, 63, treasurer of the Lehigh River Stocking Association, said that he has never seen water levels so low in the Lehigh Valley and that the drought has taken a toll on the thousands of fish stocked by his organization, a nonprofit that helps the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission stock trout within the watershed.

“Due to the low flow and warm temperatures over the summer, we lost about half our fish,” Gyory said. “We raise 2,000 fish a year. So that was the highest mortality that we ever had in the 10 years I’ve been the co-op nursery manager.”

The Fish and Boat Commission resupplied the association.

Gyory, of Slatington, Lehigh County, said the drought has taken a toll throughout the animal food chain. The fish become more susceptible to disease, but they also depend on bugs who live in and around the water for food. Bigger predators, as well as herons and other birds, depend on the fish for food.

Rob and Angela Vaughn have driven by or hiked the Green Lane Reservoir in Montgomery County many times over the decades.

But never before had they been able to get out of their car and amble across parts of the 814-acre reservoir bottom. The reservoir is fed by a branch of Perkiomen Creek and one of hundreds of struggling waterways in the area since the drought began in August.

Rob Vaughn, 67, a retired anchor for WFMZ-TV in Allentown and a former WIP radio host, lives in Bucks County, 10 minutes from the reservoir.

“We have been in the area for a long time,” said Vaughn. “Some people said there was a phenomenon like this about 15 years ago. But I don’t have any recollection of it being as low as this, where you could look out from the bridge over the reservoir and see nothing but lake bottom dirt as far as you can see to the other shore.”

He had heard from a friend that the lake was walkable.

“So I said to my wife, ‘Let’s try that just to check it out,’” Vaughn said of his Nov. 7 trip. “We did and it was a real shock.”

Green Lane Reservoir is just one of many waterways within the Delaware River Watershed that have been affected.

Aqua Pennsylvania, which owns the reservoir, in October began encouraging customers to voluntarily conserve water because of the drought. Company spokesperson Amanda Burge said the reservoir is safe and not close to drying up.

“While the edges appear dried out, there is still plenty of water in the deeper areas of the reservoir,” Burge said in an email.

Burge said the reservoir’s normal storage is 4.4 billion gallons. As of Thursday, it was at 3 billion gallons, or 69% full. She said the reduced level has not affected customers.

People, such as farmers and outdoor adventure groups, count on the intricate lattice work of waterways in the Pinelands — the Mullica, Batsto, and Wading Rivers — for their livelihood.

Cranberry farmers depend on irrigation from the rivers. When the waterways dry up, the farmers must pump water from the aquifer. It’s costly to run pumps almost around the clock at harvest time in October into early November. The cranberry farmers say this is the worst drought they have ever experienced.

But the Pinelands also draw tourism, and the lack of rainfall has caused some businesses to lose money.

A statewide prohibition against campfires dampened enthusiasm for popular fall camping spots.

Allison Hartman, education director for Pinelands Adventures, which runs paddling, hiking, and nature tours, said the outdoor-trip outfit depends on the Mullica and Batsto Rivers for kayaking tours. Normally, the kayak season ends Oct. 31. This year, Hartman said the group abruptly halted trips on the Mullica on Aug. 23.

“We were not able to reopen it for the rest of the season because the water levels were so low,” Hartman said.

Trips on the Batsto River, a tributary of the Mullica, continued because the water levels were higher.

Pinelands Adventures offers multiple trips on the Mullica, including a short two-mile paddle that’s popular with beginners, as well as a longer 11-mile overnight trip.

“We were disappointed that on either end, our beginners and our pro paddlers, were not able to do the trips for two and a half months of our season,” Hartman said. “We had to adjust, and I know it was frustrating and difficult for some of our customers to have to change their plans.”

Hartman said some parts of the Mullica River “right now are more of a hike than a paddle.”

Pinelands Adventures uses a USGS gauge on the Mullica River to determine whether water levels are acceptable for paddling. The gauge height must show between 2.7 feet to .65 feet. Anything above 2.7 can mean the river is running too fast to ensure the safety of paddlers. Anything below 0.65 feet is too low.

Last week, the gauge read 0.29 feet.

“The drought has definitely had an impact this year,” Hartman said.

Data Editor Stephen Stirling and Graphics Editor John Duchneskie contributed to this article.