Economic Value of the Delaware Estuary Watershed - Summary Document
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 (such as wetlands, forests, farms, and water) 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
Keywords
economic value, Delaware Estuary, watershed, jobs, wages, ecosystems services, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey