Rehoboth Beach Commissioners are set to hold a special meeting with Sussex County officials at 9:00 a.m. Thursday to discuss unused waste load capacity on the city's ocean outfall and hear community feedback.
The outfall has been up and running since 2018. It was a long journey to get there, and now, Sussex County wants to save on its waste water services by claiming a portion of the outfall's capacity.
The process of building the outfall dates all the way back to 1998. That's when DNREC called for the elimination of all point sources of nitrous and phosphorous in Delaware Bays. One of those point sources was Rehoboth Beach. At the time, it was pumping its treated waste water into the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal. Upon being ordered to stop doing that, the city was on a quest to find the most cost-effective, environmentally-friendly waste water solution. With insight from the community and a lot of push-back, they decided that solution was sending waste water into into the ocean through an outfall.
They were supposed to stop dumping into the canal by the end of 2014. But because the state couldn't come to a decision on approving the outfall, the deadline was extended to June 1, 2018.
The city allocated $52.5 million dollars for the project in 2015.
In May 2017, DNREC finally approved the outfall project. It was up and running by May 2018, doubling the waste water plant's flow capacity.
That brings us to today. County officials will meet virtually with the City of Rehoboth Beach, asking to tap into some of that unused capacity. It's also an opportunity for community members to weigh in.
Some worry that pumping in even more waste water could have an impact on the ocean and marine life. The MERR Institute has been an opponent of the outfall from the start, and say they hope the county will consider addressing the environmental effects.
"We would like to see, if indeed the county is going to be added to this permit, that monies be put forth to improve the plant itself," said Suzanne Thurman, Executive Director of the MERR Institute. "And we would really like them to seriously investigate a system such as electro coagulation, which produces 99% pure water and does address those contaminants I referenced previously, such as heavy metals and pharmaceuticals and other toxins."\
Rehoboth Mayor, Stan Mills, said in a statement, "It appears that the county’s proposal will not impact the quality of water being released into the ocean and that this partnership could bring a good deal of financial benefit to our waste water customers.”
The Outfall Still has its fair share of opponents, but the city stands firm that it saves money and has little environmental impact. The county thinks it can do the same for them.
Both the city and the county declined commenting ahead of Thursday's meeting. For more details and to provide your input, you can watch live on the City of Rehoboth Beach YouTube channel.