The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, together with environmental experts from Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, released the Technical Report for the Delaware Estuary & Basin (TREB) in December 2022. This report updates the environmental indicators first presented in the previous TREB reports (2012, 2017), offering a fresh look at the health of the Estuary and its surrounding watershed, an area that nearly 9 million people call home.

The update brings together more than 70 key environmental indicators, including water quality, wildlife populations, habitat conditions, and more. These indicators were selected based on strong, reliable data and their ability to help communities understand how the Estuary is changing and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead. These results directly inform the Delaware Estuary’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.

To produce this report, the Partnership collaborated closely with its Science and Technical Advisory Committee, which includes 20+ scientific experts, as well as the Delaware River Basin Commission, state and federal agencies, universities, and other institutions.

So what’s the overall takeaway?

The 2022 TREB finds that the health of the Delaware Estuary is “fair.” Some conditions are improving, others are declining, and overall, the Estuary’s health remains similar to 2017. These findings help guide regional planning, restoration efforts, and future science needs.

Read the 2022 TREB. Questions about this report can be directed to LeeAnn Haaf.

For a less technical, more scaled-down version of the TREB, you can read the 2023 State of the Estuary Report.

Read the 2022 TREB Press Release.