Salty ocean water has been creeping up the Delaware River, a drinking water source for Philadelphia. The contamination has been exacerbated by rising sea levels and has prompted officials to tap the reservoir to push the salty water out.
What’s happening?
“There are alternative sources, but we don’t want to be trucking in bottled water for people,” Amy Shallcross, the water resource operations manager at the Delaware River Basin Commission told the Guardian. “We get nervous when it starts to get up near Philadelphia. It’s only 18 miles right now from the drinking water intakes. And sometimes it can shoot upstream really quickly.”
Many reservoirs are also facing the same concerns as sea levels and dredged riverbeds are rising. Drought conditions also induce the conditions — without rain to move the river line back to its normal location, the salty water remains a threat.
How often do you worry about the quality of your drinking water?…