Rachael Pacella, DelmarvaNow 7:02 p.m. EST January 5, 2015
Rehoboth Beach's proposed ocean outfall has been called a lot of things, from a solution to pollution in the bays to a public relations nightmare, but after more than a year of stagnation, it can now be called "moving" again.
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary David Small signed a Record of Decision the morning of Jan. 5 stating the outfall was the most responsible alternative to the city's current wastewater discharge into the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, according to a news release. The plan will create an ocean outfall pipe to dispose of treated wastewater off the north end of Rehoboth's beach, about a mile into the ocean. The pipe will pump more than a million gallons of highly treated wastewater each day.
Rehoboth Beach has been seeking an alternative to its effluent into the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, which leads into Rehoboth Bay, for more than a decade.
"Delaware's Inland Bays are incredible ecological and recreational assets that have suffered for generations from too many nutrients," Small said according to a statement. "We have made progress in reducing these impacts from agriculture, septic systems and wastewater treatment plants; however, our waters remain impaired and do not meet standards to protect aquatic plants, fish and shellfish and, in many locations, are unsafe for swimming. This decision will help complete our goal of systematically eliminating all wastewater treatment plant discharges to these special waterways."
For city officials, the decision validates the effort they put into choosing ocean outfall as an alternative, and allows them to move on after more than a year of waiting for the Record of Decision, which was first considered by former Secretary Collin O'Mara before being passed along to Small.
"I've asked for a meeting with DNREC to discuss the next steps, i.e. when the funding will be approved," Mayor Sam Cooper said. "Expect a flurry of activity now. I will get a proposal from our engineering firm for the design and permitting. We're back rolling again I think."
The decision will allow the city to move forward with a loan of about $25 million from the state's Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund. According to the city charter, loans of more than $6 million require a special election.
The announcement comes days after the Dec. 31 deadline for Rehoboth to remove effluent from the canal lapsed. The deadline was put in place by a 2002 settlement, amended in 2005, between the city and DNREC regarding Total Maximum Daily Load Regulations for nitrogen and phosphorus. A new deadline has been set for June 1, 2018.
Cooper said he expects construction of the outfall project to begin in the fall of 2017.
"It's gonna be great to see the bays start to heal," Cooper said.
But while Cooper and DNREC officials celebrate the removal of pollution from the bays, groups such as the Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute in Lewes and the Surfrider Foundation Delaware Chapter call the decision a mistake. The groups cite concerns about the impacts of the effluent on the marine ecosystem.
"It's really a devastating choice," MERR founder Suzanne Thurman said, adding that is was environmentally irresponsible considering that other options were available, such as distributing the treated wastewater over farmland or wetlands.
Using a constructed wetland for this purpose would be win-win, Thurman said, as the wetlands would manage the wastewater and create vital habitat.
However, DNREC said while it generally prefers land application, in this case ocean outfall was the preferred alternative.
"The lack of agricultural lands in reasonable proximity to the City, lack of interest among landowners for partnering with the City, challenges in coordinating operations of treatment systems between the County and City, and environmental considerations and costs – all led to the conclusion that an ocean outfall was the preferred alternative," the statement said. "The ocean outfall is the only alternative that assures 100 percent of nutrients from the Rehoboth treatment plant are eliminated from the Inland Bays watershed. Any land application alternative – including constructed artificial wetlands, would result in wastewater discharges to either ground or surface waters, continuing to add nutrients to the Inland Bays. Likewise, locating a treatment facility in the adjacent Broadkill River watershed would also continue to add nutrients to a system already impaired by nitrogen and phosphorous."
The statement also says computer modeling indicates the discharge will meet all water quality standards for dilution under all conditions. Gregg Rosner of the Surfrider Foundation Delaware Chapter doesn't agree.
"Diffuse to where? The ocean is finite," he said.
He is particularly concerned about the potential impact of residual pharmaceuticals in the water, as well as endocrine inhibitors, he said.
"Outfalls really slowly grind the health of a system down to a minimum," he said.
According to Thurman the effluent will also contain harmful levels of chlorine, caffeine, PCBs, heavy metal and other non-biodegradable anthropogenic toxins that will not be adequately eliminated during the treatment process. Thurman also said that plankton and other organisms contained in the surface layer of the water will be destroyed, which will impact food sources and fisheries.
DNREC points to Sussex County's South Coastal Regional Wastewater Facility, which has operated for more than 25 years, as an example that outfalls consistently meet water quality standards. Chris Bason, Executive Director for the Center for the Inland Bays, expressed the same sentiment.
"Completely removing the discharge from Rehoboth Bay will stop an astounding 17,000 pounds of nitrogen pollution from being pumped directly into a very important and very ecologically sensitive estuary every year," Bason said in an email. "The water of the Bay and all the creatures and people that rely on it will benefit in a big way now and for future generations. A discharge to the ocean will quickly be diluted far from shore, and the science has demonstrated little if any expected impact to aquatic life."
Rosner said the Surfrider Foundation is prepared to fight the decision through the permitting process and special election, which will need to be held for the city to accept the $25 million loan.
"Without that money there is no outfall," Rosner said.
Another important part of the Record of Decision was an additional requirement that Rehoboth Beach evaluate its current stormwater collection system, which discharges into the ocean, to "identify improvements and associated costs that could reduce potential impacts to swimmers, surfers and other recreational users," the DNREC statement read.
"The requirement for the City of Rehoboth Beach to study its stormwater system for risks that may be posed to swimmers on their beach is also very important in my mind: this addresses a real water quality concern for swimmers here, which is the stormwater," Bason said in an email.
The stormwater study must be complete by Jan. 1, 2016.
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http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/delaware/2015/01/05/rehoboth/21309019/