If it works, storing water in deep aquifers should be done. But that is not a broad enough solution to the big problem that faces northern Delaware. Aquifer storage would solve the problem for Artesian customers and possibly, for a price, other suppliers who could tap Artesian's emergency supplies. Yet Artesian argues its underground reservoir would make it unnecessary to build a publicly financed reservoir for general use. Keep in mind a reservoir would relieve a competitor, United Water, which struggles during droughts.
Conservationists are another special interest.
They fight effectively against turning any part of the White Clay Creek basin north of Newark into a dammed reservoir. They have an ally in New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon. Environmentalists oppose a reservoir along I-95 at Churchmans Marsh, on the basis of concerns about possible contamination on the site and proximity to polluting automobile traffic. They have a strong ally in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is skeptical about the effect of such a project on wetlands along the Christina River. The corps has some sway because the lower Christina is navigable.