The 30-mile Nanticoke River and 20-mile Broad Creek, and such tributaries as Gum Branch, Gravely Branch and Deep Creek, are located in western and southwestern Sussex County.

They have long been a vital natural resource for this area, providing recreational opportunities for those who enjoy boating and fishing. They also support some commercial shellfishing.

The combined Nanticoke-Broad Creek watershed encompasses about 254,000 acres, and the multitude of activities that take place on that land, such as farming, lawn fertilizing, septic-system use and poultry raising, produce nutrients that enter the river system through surface-water runoff or groundwater recharge.

These excess nutrients cause ecological problems in the Nanticoke River system. For example:

• The Nanticoke used to support a thriving shad-fishing industry, but in recent years, declining water quality and habitat loss have caused a dramatic decline in the population. Now, the river is closed to shad fishing.

• In 1997, fish with lesions similar to those caused by the Pfiesteria micro-organism were found in Maryland's Pocomoke River. Concerns about Pfiesteria in general led to a dramatic decline in seafood sales that year in both Maryland and Delaware. Experts are concerned that conditions conducive to a Pfiesteria outbreak could exist in the Nanticoke River --- and that troubles those involved in recreational fishing and the seafood industry.

• An extensive report on the Chesapeake Basin, which includes the Nanticoke-Broad Creek watershed, concluded that most ponds in the basin have aquatic plant infestations "so severe that access to the pond for water-related activities is limited or even eliminated." The report lists 14 ponds in the Nanticoke River-Broad Creek watershed that are infested with nuisance vegetation. The report notes that 90 percent of Trussum Pond's surface is covered with aquatic vegetation from mid-June through mid-September, resulting in "complete exhaustion of dissolved oxygen throughout the water column." "Most of the pond's fish population has succumbed to this harsh condition," the report says.

• Since 1990, when the state began monitoring its recreational waters, swimming has been restricted at Trap Pond several times each summer when heavy rainfall and runoff have elevated bacteria levels. Such swimming restrictions have led to declining attendance and have contributed to difficulties in employing and retaining lifeguards. Because people continued to swim in the unguarded and potentially unhealthy water, the state in 2000 closed Trap Pond to swimming.

• In addition to affecting recreation at Trap Pond, high bacteria levels also affect shellfishing in the Nanticoke watershed. According to the Chesapeake Basin report, data from four water-testing stations in the watershed exceed the shellfish harvest standard. No source has been directly linked to the high bacteria counts, but the report says "probable sources of contamination include combined sewer overflows, sewage treatment plants, suburban/urban runoff, agricultural runoff and runoff from forested land."

These are not just an isolated problems --- they are part of the much larger, much more complex problem of water pollution throughout the Nanticoke-Broad Creek watershed.