03.28.23 Spill raises concerns on the Delaware....

     While I was away a large chemical spill occurred in Bristol PA. Sitting on a tributary of the Delaware River Otter Creek was contaminated with over 8,000 gallons of an acrylic polymer solution. The source of the spill was from the chemical plant Trinseco. This created widespread fear in Philadelphia and surrounding areas because the Delaware is the source of drinking water for over 14 million people living in the four states that line the river, Pa, NJ, Del., and Md. 

     While officials have stated the drinking water is safe the spill created panic causing just about every retailer in the city of brotherly love to sell out of bottled water in hours. This isn't good for humans as this spill is being compared to the one that occurred in Ohio. 

     Now about the environment. 8,000+ plus gallons of the stuff that is used to make the striper tank spilled into a tributary that spilled into the Delaware, 8 thousand gallons is a drop in the Delaware bucket. I am sure Mill Creek and then Otter Creek has been affected, as has anything that swims in it's waters. The tribs come in on the west side of the river, river right if you will, so the flow keeps it pinned along the PA side, although on a tide that water could spread out into the main channel. 

     Will affect the striped bass? Those migratory fish are still moving. I would suspect they are still, in the bigger biomass, below Philadelphia, which is 25 miles south of Bristol where the spill occurred. I don't think we would see this years spawn hampered by this event.