Office of the Delaware River Master

Flexible Flow Management Program

FFMP 2017 Highlights

New York State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the City of New York have unanimously approved a ten-year, two-part Flexible Flow Management Program (FFMP2017) intended to

meet water supply demands,
protect fisheries habitat downstream of the New York City (NYC) Delaware Basin reservoirs,
enhance flood mitigation, and
repel the upstream movement of salt water in the Delaware Estuary.

In addition, FFMP2017

establishes four water banks to support specific flow needs and targets an increase in reservoir voids to as much as 15 percent during portions of each year in order to reduce the likelihood of flood-flow releases from the reservoirs.
continues to rely on use of the City's Operations Support Tool (OST) to manage water forecasted to be available in the three NYC reservoirs and help guide selection of reservoir conservation release rates.
allows New Jersey to divert 80 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) from the Delaware River Basin through the Delaware and Raritan Canal in a drought emergency.

An interim review of the program was completed in 2023. An amendment of the 2017 FFMP was unanimously approved; the 2017 FFMP will remain in effect through May 31, 2028 and will continue to rely on the original operations plan set forth in Appendix A of the 2017 agreement. The amendment continues and modifies the studies that were outlined in the original agreement.

Office of the Delaware River Master

Flexible Flow Management Program

FFMP 2017 Highlights

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