Editing Delaware River (section)

==Watershed==
{{See also|List of Delaware River tributaries}}
[[File:Delaware headwaters map.png|thumb|The headwaters of the Delaware River, including the river's East and West Branches and other tributaries]]

The Delaware River's [[drainage basin]] has an area of {{convert|13539|sqmi|km2}} and encompasses 42 counties and 838 municipalities in five U.S. states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.<ref name="PhillyWaterDelRWatershedPlan">Philadelphia Water Department. [http://www.phillyriverinfo.org/WICLibrary/Delaware%20River%20Source%20Water%20Protection%20Plan.pdf "Moving from Assessment to Protection…The Delaware River Watershed Source Water Protection Plan" (PWSID #1510001)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728123538/http://www.phillyriverinfo.org/WICLibrary/Delaware%20River%20Source%20Water%20Protection%20Plan.pdf|date=July 28, 2013}} (June 2007). Retrieved July 17, 2013.</ref>{{rp|9}}  This total area constitutes approximately 0.4% of the land mass in the United States.<ref name="PhillyWaterDelRWatershedPlan" />{{rp|9}} In 2001, the watershed was 18% agricultural land, 14% developed land, and 68% forested land.<ref name="PhillyWaterDelRWatershedPlan" />{{rp|vi}}

There are 216 tributary streams and creeks comprising an estimated 14,057 miles of streams and creeks, in the watershed.<ref name="PhillyWaterDelRWatershedPlan" />{{rp|p.11,25}}  While the watershed is home to 4.17&nbsp;million people according to the 2000 Federal Census, these bodies of water provide drinking water to 17&nbsp;million people—roughly 6% of the population of the United States.<ref name="PhillyWaterDelRWatershedPlan" />{{rp|vi, 9}}  The waters of the Delaware River's basin are used to sustain "fishing, transportation, power, cooling, recreation, and other industrial and residential purposes."<ref name="PhillyWaterDelRWatershedPlan" />{{rp|9}} It is the 33rd largest river in the United States in terms of flow, but is among the nation's most heavily used rivers in daily freight tonnage.<ref name="PhillyWaterDelRWatershedPlan" />{{rp|p.11}} The average annual flow rate of the Delaware is 11,700 cubic feet per second at [[Trenton, New Jersey]].<ref name="PhillyWaterDelRWatershedPlan" />{{rp|9}} With no dams or impediments on the river's main stem, the Delaware is one of the few remaining large free-flowing rivers in the United States.<ref name="PhillyWaterDelRWatershedPlan" />{{rp|11}}

{{Wide image|Delaware river chart 1655.jpeg|800px|A 1655 Swedish nautical chart showing part of the Delaware River when the river was part of the Swedish colony [[New Sweden]]}}
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:East Branch Delaware River at Margaretville, NY.jpg|East Branch of the Delaware River near [[Margaretville, New York]]
File:Hawk's Nest view of DelawareR.jpg|Canoeing on the river at [[Hawk's Nest (Orange County, New York)]]
File:Delaware and Hudson Canal near Summitville, NY.jpg|A still remaining section of the [[Delaware and Hudson Canal]] seen from [[U.S. Route 209|U.S. 209]] near [[Summitville, New York]]
File:Easton–Phillipsburg Toll Bridge, Dec 2021.jpg|[[Easton–Phillipsburg Toll Bridge]] crosses the Delaware, connecting [[Easton, Pennsylvania]] and [[Phillipsburg, New Jersey]], in the [[Lehigh Valley]].
File:BenjaminFranklinBridgeAtNight.jpg|[[Benjamin Franklin Bridge]] crosses the Delaware, connecting [[Philadelphia]] and [[Camden, New Jersey]].
File:Walt Whitman Bridge at night.jpg|[[Walt Whitman Bridge]] crosses the Delaware, connecting [[Philadelphia]] and [[Gloucester City, New Jersey]].
File:DingmansFerryBridgeSide.jpg|[[Dingman's Ferry Bridge]] connects [[Sandyston Township, New Jersey]], and [[Delaware Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania|Delaware Township]] in [[Pike County, Pennsylvania]]
File:Delaware River DWG USA.jpg|The Delaware within the southern portion of the [[Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area]], near [[Worthington State Forest]] in [[New Jersey]]
File:2006 flood Westfall PA.png|A flood in [[Westfall Township, Pennsylvania|Westfall, Pennsylvania]], in 2006
</gallery>