December 9, 2008
Delaware River Basin Commission
25 State Police Drive, P.O. Box 7360
West Trenton, NJ 08628-0360
609-883-9500

Dear Commissioners:

The mission of the Twin & Walker Creeks Watershed Conservancy is to promote a better understanding of our watershed and its ecosystems and to protect, restore and enhance the watershed through proper management and watershed stewardship.

We have nearly three hundred members representing the fifteen hundred households in our watershed who live here and remain here because of the pristine nature of the environment.

We are concerned about the issue of gas drilling in our watershed.    

Gas drilling has the potential to destroy our ability to live in an area that is considered unique in its purity. Gas drilling can create many dangers to our environment that will confront our households with the possibility of additional dust, smog, residual burning, new temporary and unpaved roads, undrinkable water, polluted streams and lakes, reduced ground water levels, and dry wells.  

All these negative effects will result in reduced property values and tax revenues to the townships.

The past history of the drilling companies is poor. They are not well regulated and can operate without appropriate regard for protecting our environment.  They are able to inject toxic chemicals into the water used to smash apart the shale rock infrastructure to great depths and lateral lengths to free the gas.  This process is known as fracking.  The wells produce noise pollution and burning gases twenty-four hours a day. The companies have no capability to treat the recovered polluted water produced by the fracking process on site. It must be held in huge holding ponds before it can either be shipped out by trucks or injected into our ground water systems. The gas produced is sent away by pipeline to be sold to the highest bidder, which may include foreign nations.

Therefore, T&WCWC is opposed to gas drilling in our area, which is an imminent threat to our environment. We are in favor of the United States Congress passing HR 7231, which repeals the exemption for hydraulic fracking under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Dr. Ralph Cioppa, President

August 5, 2008: update regarding PPL's Susquehanna- Roseland Transmission line

PPL has just announced that Route B has been selected for the powerline upgrade. Route A would have impacted our watershed.

Thanks to everyone who placed signs or wrote letters expressing their concern for the need to protect the Twin & Walker Creeks Watershed.

Twin/Walker Creeks Watershed Conservancy Annual Meeting -
Keeping Rain Water Where it Falls - Saturday, October 27 (2007)

As residential and commercial development increases in the Twin/Walker Creeks watershed as well as Pike County, the volume of water running across the land into our streams and lakes increases.  This water is known as stormwater runoff.   In order to reduce this stormwater runoff, communities and homeowners can address the amount of impervious surfaces associated with stormwater runoff.  

The Twin/Walker Creeks Watershed Conservancy "Keeping Rain Water Where it Falls" on Saturday, October 27, 2007, a program on designing, installing and caring for landscapes that benefit our local environment by keeping the rain water on site and allowing it to seep into the ground. The water gets cleansed as it trickles through the ground and replenishes our drinking water supply. The result is also less stormwater carrying pollutants to waterways and causing flooding along the way.

The program covered how impervious surfaces are affecting our watershed and the water quality of our streams, how to design and install a Rain Garden to capture runoff from your home and community, how riparian buffers can prevent nutrients and other pollutants from entering our streams and lakes, and what plantings are better alternatives to grass in reducing impervious coverage.

"Keeping Rain Water Where it Falls" was presented at 10 am on October 27 at the Walker Lake Clubhouse.  The speaker was Vincent Cotrone, Penn State Cooperative Extension Educator for 12 years.

The mission of the Conservancy is to promote a better understanding of the Twin/Walker Creeks watershed and its ecosystems and to protect, restore and enhance the watershed through proper management and watershed stewardship. Conservancy activities consist of 1) Water Quality Monitoring by a trained group of volunteers that collect and analyze the water chemistry and biological data at different locations in the watershed, 2) Educational programs and newsletters that inform watershed residents of watershed planning and protection efforts as well as a better understanding of the watershed and 3) Soliciting both financial support of residents as well as volunteer support.

The Twin/Walker Creek watershed is 11.5 square miles consisting of approximately 11 miles of streams as well as 3 lakes - Big Twin Lake, Little Twin Lake and Walker Lake. Each of the lakes is a significant natural, aesthetic and recreational resource that is highly valued by residents of the several residential communities that surround the lakes.