DRBC Advisory Committee Hosts Climate Change Forum

NASA’s Sea Level Team Leader Hamlington to Give Keynote
NBC10 Philadelphia’s Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz Featured Speaker on Climate Impact on Forecasting

WEST TRENTON, N.J. (January 28) — The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC)’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change (ACCC) is hosting a forum on Climate Change and the Delaware River Basin on March 2, 2021. The one-day forum will occur on the second day of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary’s (PDE) biennial Science and Environmental Summit, which takes place online from March 1 to 3, 2021.

NASA scientist Benjamin Hamlington, Ph.D., who leads NASA’s Sea Level Change Science Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, will provide the forum’s keynote presentation.

Providing some regional perspective, NBC10 Philadelphia Meteorologist Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz will discuss how climate change is impacting his ability to forecast local weather.

Other speakers include climate experts from Rutgers University, The Water Center at Penn, Shippensburg University, Columbia University, USGS, PDE and DRBC.

“Climate change impacts in the Delaware River Basin include increased temperature, changes in precipitation patterns and sea level rise, all of which affect water supply and water quality,” said Kristen Bowman Kavanagh, P.E., DRBC’s deputy executive director and liaison to the ACCC. “More than 13 million people depend on the basin’s waters. As we plan for the region’s future water supply availability, we need to consider the earth’s changing climate and sea level rise.”

Those interested in attending can view the agenda at https://www.delawareestuary.org/summit. Event registration is available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2021-delaware-estuary-virtual-science-environmental-summit-registration-100003575386?ref=ecount.

DRBC’s ACCC is comprised of up 18 individuals with relevant climate expertise, representing various government, watershed, academic, business and water user perspectives. It is focused on science-based information for identifying and prioritizing climate threats to the Delaware River Basin, including salinity impacts from sea level rise and changes in the seasonality and volume of stream flows, as well as providing recommendations for mitigation, adaptation and improved resiliency. More information on the ACCC can be found at https://www.state.nj.us/drbc/about/advisory/ACCC_index.html.

The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, host of the Delaware Estuary Program, leads science-based and collaborative efforts to improve the tidal Delaware River and Bay, which spans Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The DRBC is an interstate-federal government agency created in 1961 by concurrent compact legislation, marking the first time that the federal government and a group of states joined together as equal partners in a river basin planning, development and regulatory agency. The five commission members are the governors of the basin states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania) and the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ North Atlantic Division, who represents the federal government.

Additional summit information is available at https://www.nj.gov/drbc/home/spotlight/approved/20210128_ClimateForum_atPDE-Summit.html.

To learn more about the DRBC, please visit www.drbc.gov or follow DRBC on Twitter at @DRBC1961.