Economic Value of the Delaware Estuary Watershed - Comprehensive Report
Date
2011-06-29
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Abstract
What do Boeing, Sunoco, Campbell’s Soup, DuPont, Wawa,
Starbucks, Iron Hill Brewery, the Philadelphia Eagles, Salem
Nuclear Power Plant, and the United States Navy have in
common? They all depend on the waters of the Delaware
Estuary to sustain their business.
The natural resources of the Delaware Estuary watershed
provide tremendous economic value to our region. This
report examines that value in three distinct ways:
• Economic value directly related to the Delaware
Estuary’s water resources and habitats. Using
economic activity as a measure of value, the Delaware
Estuary contributes over $10 billion in annual
economic activity from recreation, water quality and
supply, hunting and fishing, forests, agriculture and
parks.
• Value of the goods and services provided by the Delaware Estuary’s ecosystems. Using
ecosystem goods and services as a measure of value, the ecosystems of the Delaware Estuary
provide $12 billion annually in goods and services in 2010 dollars, with a net present value of
$392 billion calculated over a 100-year period.
• Employment related to the Delaware Estuary’s water resources and habitats. Using
employment as a measure of value, the Delaware Estuary directly and indirectly supports over
500,000 jobs with over $10 billion in wages annually. This does not include the thousands or
even millions of jobs in companies and industries that rely on waters of the Delaware Estuary
for their industrial and commercial processes.
Description
prepared for the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, funded by DNREC
Keywords
economic value, Delaware Estuary, watershed, ecosystems services, jobs, wages, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey