‘Forever Chemicals’ Surface in D&R Canal Amid Rollback of Federal Rules to Fight Them

For a million residents, there’s a splash of Delaware River water in their taps. It’s in the cocktail of raw water sources used by several water providers in the area. Providers access it via a 60-mile-long manmade channel — a channel that also serves as a state park, an urban connector and a haven for history buffs.

This channel is the Delaware & Raritan Canal. It’s a link between the Delaware River in the west of the state, and the Raritan River in the center. It had initially been built to move freight, but for the last eight decades, the canal’s chief job is to move water.