The Delaware River rises in southern
New York and flows southward for about 300 miles before emptying into Delaware Bay. It passes through the
Delaware Water Gap near Stroudsburg,
Pennsylvania. The Delaware forms the boundary between New York and Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and New Jersey and Delaware. The
Schuylkill and
Lehigh rivers are its main tributaries.
The Delaware serves as a water transportation route for
Philadelphia,
Trenton and
Camden, N.J., and
Wilmington, Del., which lie in one of the great industrial areas of the
United States. The
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal connects the river with
Chesapeake Bay. In 1961, the Delaware Basin Compact created a regional administrative agency to develop and control the water resources of the Delaware River Basin.