(REHOBOTH BEACH, Del.) - The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has issued a Notice of Violation against the city of Rehoboth Beach, following a complaint from a citizen of discharges from the wastewater treatment plant.
Imagine walking down the street in scenic Rehoboth Beach, to be greeted by an unlikely sight: A sea of brown, sludgy sewage floating along the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal. People around Rehoboth Beach explained the potential sight as "nasty," "gross," and "scary."
DRNEC says on July 20, the organization received photos of a heavy, dark brown discharge including floating solids, scum and sludge. An investigation two days later found that micro-screens had been out of service for some time. Officials have thirty days to submit a formal report, and plan for corrections.
"It worries me a little bit. As a healthcare provider, it concerns me that people are swimming around in sewage, possibly," says Brian Wonsidler, who's studying to become a nurse practitioner.
The city plans to give the facility a ten million dollar upgrade, which includes moving
the sewage out of the canal to a site in the ocean. The upgrade will also replace the micro-screens, but people are still skeptical.
Doug Lake, who visits Rehoboth Beach every year, is one of them. "I mean there's a huge amount of people that come here, and you can't just say, oh yeah, it's fixed. Well, I wanna see that. I wanna see the continued testing, and the results. I think everyone would," says Lake.
