Cherry Creek
Watershed
Part of A Larger Watershed
The 20.8 square mile watershed is a small part of the larger Delaware River Watershed, which extends from north of Hancock, New York to the Philadelphia and the Delaware Estuary leading to the Atlantic Ocean. The Delaware River Watershed encompasses12,755 square miles of which 50.3 % is located in Pennsylvania, 23.3 % in New Jersey, 18.5 % in New York and 7.9 % in Delaware. The watershed contains 42 counties and 838 municipalities. The river system is fed by 216 tributary streams with the largest being the Lehigh and Schuylkill Rivers.
This watershed drains just .4 % of the United States’ land, but almost 10 % of its population, 22 million people, relies on the river system for water. Many of the 22 million live beyond the watershed: a major source of water for New York City is taken from the upper reaches of the watershed in the Catskill Mountains of New York state.
The watershed population was 7.3 million people in 1990 with the greatest concentration in the metro Philadelphia area. Since 1980, the fastest growing areas have been the Pocono regions of Pike, Monroe and Wayne counties as well as the southeastern counties of Chester and Bucks.
The watershed is within a day’s journey for 40 % of the nation’s population.
Unique Resources
The Delaware Watershed boasts one of the greatest concentrations of historical buildings, canals and landmarks in the nation. It features diverse natural areas that provide habitat for a large number of rare, threatened and endangered plants, reptiles, birds, mammals and fish.
Some of the very best farmland in the United States exists in the watershed. At the same time, urban sprawl and increasing population threaten the open lands throughout the watershed.
