Basin Regulations; Water Code

Issuing agencies

Abstract

The Commission proposes to amend its Water Code and Comprehensive Plan to require water supply systems serving the public (purveyors) to report water use by their largest customers.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 192 (Tuesday, October 6, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 192 (Tuesday, October 6, 2026)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63511-63513]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-20480]


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DELAWARE RIVER BASIN COMMISSION

18 CFR Part 410


Basin Regulations; Water Code

AGENCY: Delaware River Basin Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The Commission proposes to amend its Water Code and 
Comprehensive Plan to require water supply systems serving the public 
(purveyors) to report water use by their largest customers.

DATES: 
    Written comments: Written comments will be accepted through 5:00 
p.m. EST on Friday, December 4, 2026.
    Public hearing: A public hearing will be held remotely via Zoom on 
Wednesday, November 4, 2026, beginning at 1:30 p.m. and ending no later 
than 3:00 p.m. EST. Details about accessing the hearing are available 
on the Commission's website, <a href="http://www.drbc.gov">www.drbc.gov</a>.

ADDRESSES: 
    To submit written comments: Written comments will be accepted until 
5:00 p.m. EST on Friday, December 4, 2026, through the Commission's 
online public comment collection system at: <a href="https://hearing.drbc.commentinput.com">https://hearing.drbc.commentinput.com</a>?id=T95htQGAg. To request an exception 
from use of the online system based on lack of access to the internet, 
please submit your request, along with your comment, to: Commission 
Secretary, DRBC, P.O. Box 7360, West Trenton, NJ 08628.
    To register to speak at the public hearing: Those who wish to 
provide oral comment at a hearing must register in advance to do so. 
Registration will be through Zoom. A link to the Zoom registration for 
the public hearing is posted at <a href="http://www.drbc.gov">www.drbc.gov</a>. Online registration will 
remain open until 5:00 p.m. on the day prior to the hearing date or 
until all available speaking slots have been filled, whichever is 
earlier. Each person who wishes to provide oral comment may do so at 
only one public hearing. Registrations will be monitored, and if 
capacity is not adequate to accommodate all who wish to speak, 
additional opportunities may be added.
    See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for details regarding the substance 
of written comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information regarding the public 
hearing and submission of written comments, contact Kate Schmidt, 
Communications Specialist, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#11727e7f6570726551756373723f767e67"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="63000c0d1702001723071101004d040c15">[email&#160;protected]</span></a> (preferred) or 609-477-
7205. For information concerning the substance of the proposed 
amendments, contact Chad Pindar, Manager of Water Resource Planning, at 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f7949f9693d9879e99939685b793859594d9909881"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="85e6ede4e1abf5ecebe1e4f7c5e1f7e7e6abe2eaf3">[email&#160;protected]</span></a> (preferred) or 609-477-7248.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Delaware River Basin Commission 
(``DRBC'' or ``Commission'') is a Federal-interstate compact agency 
formed by the enactment of concurrent legislation by four states and 
the United States in 1961 \1\ to manage the water resources of the 
Delaware River Basin (the ``Basin'') without regard to political 
boundaries. The Commission's members are, ex officio, the governors of 
the basin states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) and 
the Division Engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers North 
Atlantic Division, who represents the United States.
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    \1\ United States Public Law 87-328, Approved Sept. 27, 1961, 75 
Statutes at Large 688; 53 Delaware Laws, Ch. 71, Approved May 26, 
1961; New Jersey Laws of 1961, Ch. 13, Approved May 1, 1961; New 
York Laws of 1961, Ch. 148, Approved March 17, 1961; Pennsylvania 
Acts of 1961, Act. No. 268, Approved July 7, 1961; commonly known as 
the ``Delaware River Basin Compact,'' and referred to hereinafter as 
the ``Compact.''
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Background

    Water use data are critical for effective management of the Basin's 
water resources. They are needed to develop consumptive use estimates, 
project water use trends, establish water budgets, assess water 
resource needs, and evaluate the effectiveness of water conservation 
programs. The Commission established annual reporting requirements for 
water supply systems serving the public (also herein, ``purveyors'') in 
1986 and updated them in 2001 and 2009. The requirements apply to 
``source data,'' consisting of monthly withdrawal or bulk purchase 
information for each system, and ``service area data,'' which identify 
water uses by category as residential, commercial, institutional, 
industrial, bulk sale, non-revenue, unaccounted for, or other. See 
Delaware River Basin Water Code (hereinafter, ``Water Code''), secs. 
2.50.3 A.1.a.-b.
    The proposed amendments would require water supply systems serving 
the public to furnish the Commission with a third class of supplemental 
water use data--large customer data. These data would help DRBC 
characterize the water needs of the largest users that obtain their 
water from purveyors rather than withdrawing it directly from a surface 
water or ground water source. The data would contribute to a clearer 
picture of how the Basin's water resources are used.
    Because the proposed amendments include a new section 2.50.1, 
``Definitions,'' current sections 2.50.1 through 2.50.3 are to be re-
numbered 2.50.2 through 2.50.4. The substantive new requirements appear 
in proposed new subsection 2.50.4 A.1.c. Additional non-substantive 
amendments are proposed to the introductory paragraphs of current 
subsections 2.50.3 A.1., ``Annual Reporting Requirements--Water Supply 
Systems Serving the Public'' and A.2., ``Annual Reporting 
Requirements--Other Withdrawals,'' and to current subsection 2.50.3 B., 
solely for purposes of consistency and clarification. Changes to the 
latter subsection, in particular, are proposed to continue to ensure 
that DRBC's annual reporting requirements do not compel entities to 
submit the same data to both DRBC and state agencies.
    Currently, approximately 300 purveyors in the Basin report source 
and service area water use to Basin state agencies in accordance with 
the Water Code provisions cited above. Working closely with our member 
state agencies, the Commission is able to access, compile, and analyze 
approximately 30 years of source and service area data from each state 
for purposes of identifying and projecting water use trends Basin-wide. 
The Commission now seeks to better understand the role of large 
customers of water supply systems serving the public in water use 
across the Basin. It also wishes to better quantify consumptive uses of 
water--those uses that do not involve return of the water to a surface 
or ground water source after its use but instead involve evaporative 
loss or export of the water from the Basin.

[[Page 63512]]

    Excluding out-of-basin diversions, withdrawals by purveyors in 2024 
comprised the second largest water use and second largest consumptive 
water use in the Delaware River Basin, equal to approximately 15 
percent (833 million gallons per day (``mgd'')) of total water use and 
28.5 percent (83 mgd) of consumptive water use.\2\ For decades, the 
Commission has applied a consumptive use coefficient of ten percent 
(10%) to water withdrawn from the Basin by most water supply systems 
serving the public. Data obtained as a result of the proposed 
amendments would help the Commission determine whether its consumptive 
use coefficient for water supply systems serving the public remains 
accurate.
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    \2\ Delaware River Basin Commission. (June 2026). Water 
Resources Program FY 2027-2029. Sec. 1.2.2. Available at: <a href="https://www.nj.gov/drbc/library/documents/WRPFY27-29.pdf">https://www.nj.gov/drbc/library/documents/WRPFY27-29.pdf</a>.
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    A clearer understanding of water use by large customers of water 
supply systems serving the public is particularly important in helping 
develop a more accurate profile of consumptive use in the Basin and 
evaluating whether current drought management measures and contingency 
plans will be adequate in the future.
    The Commission expects that under the amended rule, a subset of the 
approximately 300 water supply systems serving the public that are 
subject to the rule will be required to identify large customers 
supplied by their systems. The incremental burden on these purveyors is 
expected to be manageable, as most are already accustomed to furnishing 
source and service area data electronically to the Commission's 
respective member states in accordance with subsections 2.50.3 A.1.a. 
and b. of the Water Code, adopted in 1986, and to providing DRBC with 
an annual ``water audit'' report in accordance with section 2.1.8 of 
the Water Code, adopted in 2012. Data collected pursuant to the 
proposed amendments would be reported electronically in a manner 
similar to that currently used by purveyors to report water audit data 
to the Commission.
    Specifically, the proposed amendments would require the owner or 
operator of each water supply system serving the public with a 
withdrawal of 100,000 gallons per day (``gpd'') or more as an average 
during any 30-day period to report the following data for each customer 
to which the system supplies an amount greater than or equal to 50,000 
gpd as a 30-day average through one or more proximate connections: the 
calendar year for which the data are reported; the DRBC docket number 
and state permit number for the reporting entity; the identification 
number assigned by the reporting entity to the customer served by the 
connection(s); the amount of water supplied monthly to the customer for 
each of the twelve months for which data are reported; the type or 
sector to which the customer belongs; and the NAICS code.
    The Commission proposes to collect monthly data for large customers 
beginning with calendar year 2026 data, to be submitted in June 2027. 
If a purveyor's practice is to bill less frequently than monthly, then 
less frequent use data for 2026 and any portion of 2027 that precedes 
the effective date of the final rule would be accepted. Regardless of 
their current billing practices, all purveyors subject to the rule 
would be required to report monthly large customer water use for each 
month following the rule's effective date. Accordingly, if the rule 
becomes effective in May 2027, the purveyor's report for 2026 (to be 
submitted in June 2027) may include less-than-monthly data for all of 
2026. The purveyor's report for 2027 (to be submitted in 2028) may 
include less-than-monthly water use data for the months of January 
through April of 2027 but must include monthly data for each large 
customer for the months of May through December 2027.
    The text of the proposed amendments is available on the 
Commission's website at <a href="https://www.nj.gov/drbc/meetings/proposed/notice_water-reporting.html">https://www.nj.gov/drbc/meetings/proposed/notice_water-reporting.html</a>.

Incorporation by Reference

    The entirety of the Water Code, including section 2.50, is 
incorporated into the Code of Federal Regulations at 18 CFR 410.1 and 
was last approved for incorporation by reference by the Office of the 
Federal Register (``OFR'') on March 6, 2023. In accordance with OFR's 
regulations concerning incorporation by reference, the preamble 
summarizes the proposed amendments to section 2.50 of the Water Code.
    The Commission further proposes to amend section 410.1(c) of title 
18 of the Code of Federal Regulations by replacing the date of 
incorporation by reference there with respect to the Water Code (March 
6, 2023) with the date on which the Commission adopts a final rule 
pursuant to this proposal.
    Interested persons may obtain or inspect copies of the Water Code 
at the Delaware River Basin Commission, 25 Cosey Road, West Trenton, 
New Jersey, 08628-0360 or on the Commission's website, <a href="https://www.nj.gov/drbc/library/documents/watercode.pdf">https://www.nj.gov/drbc/library/documents/watercode.pdf</a>.

Public Process

    Substance of comments. The Commission welcomes and will consider 
comments that concern the potential impacts of the proposed amendments 
on the conservation, utilization, development, management and control 
of the water and related resources of the Delaware River Basin and on 
public participation in the Commission's water resource management 
activities. In particular, the Commission seeks comment on the burden 
the proposed rule would impose on water supply systems serving the 
public and large customers.
    Non-digitized, voluminous materials such as books, journals and 
collections of documents will not be accepted. Digital submissions of 
articles and websites must be accompanied by a statement containing 
citations to the specific findings or conclusions the commenter wishes 
to reference.
    Submission of written comments. Written comments along with any 
attachments should be submitted through the Commission's web-based 
comment system (<a href="https://drbc.commentinput.com/?id=kciDptC8h">https://drbc.commentinput.com/?id=kciDptC8h</a>) until 5 
p.m. on Friday, December 4, 2026. All materials should be provided in 
searchable formats, preferably in .pdf searchable text. Notably, a 
picture scan of a document may not result in searchable text. Comments 
received through any method other than the designated on-line method, 
including via email, fax, postal/delivery services or hand delivery, 
will not be considered or included in the rulemaking record unless 
accompanied by a written request for an exception based on lack of 
access to the web-based comment system. Such requests and accompanying 
materials may be sent to: Commission Secretary, DRBC, P.O. Box 7360, 
West Trenton, NJ 08628.
    Public hearing. To ensure an orderly process and to provide access 
to interested parties regardless of their geographic location, the 
Commission is conducting its public hearing virtually. Attendance at 
the hearing is not limited and requires no registration. However, to 
eliminate uncertainty on the part of attendees about whether they will 
have an opportunity to provide oral comment, those who wish to speak at 
a hearing must register in advance to do so, using the link on the 
Commission's website. Registrations will be monitored, and if capacity 
is not adequate to accommodate all who wish to speak, additional 
opportunities may

[[Page 63513]]

be added. Key elements of the procedure are as follows:
    [ssquf] Online registration to speak at a public hearing will 
remain open until 5 p.m. on the day immediately before each hearing 
date.
    [ssquf] Each person who wishes to provide oral comment may do so at 
only one public hearing.
    [ssquf] Speaking time will be limited to approximately three 
minutes per speaker.
    [ssquf] Elected government officials and their staff members will 
have the opportunity to identify themselves when registering to attend 
a hearing.
    [ssquf] Attendance at the public hearing is not limited and 
requires no advance registration.
    [ssquf] Written and oral comments will receive equal consideration.
    The Commission appreciates the public's participation and input on 
this matter.
    Translation Services for Rulemaking Materials. The Commission will 
consider requests for translation of this document and the proposed 
rule text into languages other than English. To request translation of 
documents related to this rulemaking, please send an email to 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#433731222d302f22372603273121206d242c35"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3b4f495a5548575a4f5e7b5f495958155c544d">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Please specify both the requested language and the 
requested documents.
    More Information. Detailed and up-to-date information about the 
rulemaking, including proposed rule text, a frequently asked questions 
document, public notices, and links for submitting written comments and 
for registering online to speak at the scheduled public hearing can be 
found on the Commission website, <a href="http://www.drbc.gov">www.drbc.gov</a>.

List of Subjects in 18 CFR Part 410

    Incorporation by reference, Water pollution control, Water 
resources, Water supply.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Delaware River Basin 
Commission proposes to amend title 18, chapter III, subchapter A of the 
Code of Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 410--BASIN REGULATIONS; WATER CODE AND ADMINISTRATIVE MANUAL--
PART III WATER QUALITY REGULATIONS

0
1. The authority citation for part 410 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  Delaware River Basin Compact, 75 Stat. 688.

0
2. Amend Sec.  410.1 by revising paragraph (c) to read as follows.


Sec.  410.1  Basin regulations--Water Code and Administrative Manual--
Part III Water Quality Regulations.

* * * * *
    (c) Work, services, activities and facilities affecting the 
conservation, utilization, control, development or management of water 
resources within the Delaware River Basin are subject to regulations 
contained within the Delaware River Basin Water Code with Amendments 
through [EFFECTIVE DATE OF FINAL RULE], and the Administrative Manual--
Part III Water Quality Regulations with Amendments through December 7, 
2022. Both the Delaware River Basin Water Code and the Administrative 
Manual--Part III Water Quality Regulations are incorporated by 
reference into this section with the approval of the Director of the 
Federal Register under 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. You may 
obtain or inspect this material at the Delaware River Basin Commission 
(DRBC), 25 Cosey Road, West Trenton, New Jersey 08628-0360, 609-883-
9500, <a href="http://www.drbc.gov">www.drbc.gov</a>.

    Dated: September 29, 2026.
Naomi Mendelsohn,
Commission Secretary/Assistant General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2026-20480 Filed 10-5-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6360-01-P


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