The
Murderkill River is a
river flowing to
Delaware Bay in central
Delaware in the
United States. It is approximately 21.7 mi long and drains an area of 106 sqmi on the
Atlantic Coastal Plain.
The Murderkill flows for its entire length in southern
Kent County. It rises just west of
Felton and flows generally east-northeastwardly, through Killen Pond (site of
Killens Pond State Park) and Coursey Pond, under
Carpenters Bridge, and past
Frederica to
Bowers, where it enters Delaware Bay about 0.5 miles (1 km) south of the mouth of the
St. Jones River. The Murderkill River is
tidally influenced from its mouth upstream to just past Frederica, and is considered by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to be
navigable for the lower 10 miles (16 km) of its course.
According to 2002 data from the
United States Environmental Protection Agency, 55% of the area of the Murderkill River's
watershed is occupied by
agricultural uses; 17% is
forested; 14% is
urban; 9% is
wetland; and 2% is water.
The river has suffered a persistent
pollution from
eutrophication and organic waste in
agricultural runoff. Its
estuary is considered to have abnormally low rates of dissolved
oxygen.