DOVER – Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Shawn M. Garvin today signed an order enabling the City of Rehoboth Beach to move forward with construction of an outfall that will discharge the city’s treated wastewater into the Atlantic Ocean, eliminating the largest remaining point source discharge into Delaware’s Inland Bays.

Before issuing the permits, DNREC evaluated the wastewater project put forward by the city to ensure that the remedy chosen by the city – the ocean outfall – met all legal, scientific and technical standards for bringing the city into compliance with its wastewater discharge. The Department is issuing permits for the outfall based on the DNREC Secretary’s determination that the City of Rehoboth Beach satisfied all regulatory requirements with its applications.

Since taking office in mid-March, Secretary Garvin has listened to numerous stakeholders with often disparate opinions and perspectives on the ocean outfall option. “These are very dedicated individuals who have spent a great deal of time studying the issues and participating in the public process,” he said. “I wanted to glean as much information as possible from them before I made a decision. I sincerely appreciate the time they spent in discussion with me and the insights they provided the Department.”

Stakeholders had expressed concern about the ocean outfall’s potential impacts to Hen and Chicken Shoals, an important habitat for numerous marine species. Information in the hearing record, however, demonstrates that the outfall’s alignment completely avoids Hen and Chicken Shoals and that the effluent, treated to a very high level, will not appreciably impact the shoals. Work done for Rehoboth by the city’s consultants also demonstrated that water quality, natural resources and public health would be protected by the alignment of the outfall, and that constructing it would have minimal environmental impact. Permits approved in the Secretary’s Order will restrict all work on the outfall to the colder months when wildlife and marine animals, including piping plovers, ospreys, and migrating fish, turtles and mammals, will not be impacted. Likewise, work will only be done during the offseason to avoid disruption of recreational uses of Rehoboth’s Deauville Beach.

The order states that the ocean outfall was the remedy chosen by the City of Rehoboth for complying with a court order to stop discharging effluent from the city’s wastewater treatment plant into the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal by June 1, 2018. The outfall will enable Rehoboth to achieve compliance with federal Clean Water Act and state standards for its wastewater discharge. When operational, the outfall also will bring closure to a lengthy process during which the city has worked to achieve wastewater compliance – starting in 1998, when DNREC promulgated a Total Maximum Daily Load Regulation requiring elimination of all 13 point sources of nitrogen and phosphorus discharging to the Inland Bays.

The Secretary’s Order can be found on the DNREC website at http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/Info/Pages/SecOrders_Permits.aspx

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 47, No. 120

-30-

DOVER – The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will hold a public hearing Tuesday, Nov. 15 on several wastewater projects proposed by the City of Rehoboth Beach, including the city’s ocean outfall. The hearing will begin at 6 p.m. at the Rehoboth Elementary School, 500 Stockley Street, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971.

Rehoboth’s proposed wastewater projects include a pump station, a force main and an ocean outfall. The new pump station and a 24-inch force main are required to convey the treated wastewater to the ocean outfall and through diffusers located 6,000 feet offshore in water approximately 40 feet deep.

These proposed projects require several DNREC permits and approvals, including a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit, a Coastal Zone Management Act Federal Consistency Determination, a Subaqueous Lands Lease, Water Quality Certification, a Wastewater Facilities Construction Permit, and a Beach Preservation Coastal Construction Permit. Rehoboth’s permit applications and supporting documents, and a fact sheet and a draft NPDES permit are available on DNREC’s website.

The public hearing will receive comments from public speakers, with priority given to those who have preregistered followed by other speakers who choose to sign up at the public hearing. To preregister to speak at the hearing, please contact DNREC by e-mail or first class mail no later than Nov. 11 by Rehoboth_Wastewater_Comments@delaware.gov or via US Postal Service to:

John Schneider, DNREC
State Street Commons
100 W. Water Street – Suite 10B
Dover, DE 19904

As DNREC anticipates a large number of speakers, the Department accordingly will impose a five-minute time limit on each speaker. If you are unable or choose not to attend the public hearing, you may submit written comments in advance that will become part of the record. Written comments should be sent to the above contact addresses, preferably by email to Rehoboth_Wastewater_Comments@delaware.gov. The public comment period for written comments on the proposed City of Rehoboth wastewater projects began Oct. 15 and will end at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 2, 2016. If comments are submitted by USPS, they must be postmarked no later than Dec.2, 2016.

Media Contacts: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902, or John Schneider, DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship, 302-739-9939

Vol. 46, No. 368

DOVER – The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced today that DNREC will hold a public workshop Wednesday, Oct. 19 to provide information about several wastewater projects currently proposed by the City of Rehoboth Beach. The workshop will begin at 6 p.m. inside Rehoboth Volunteer Fire Company Station 86, 219 Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971.

Rehoboth’s proposed wastewater projects include a pump station, a force main and an ocean outfall. The new pump station and a 24-inch force main are required to convey the treated wastewater to the ocean outfall and through diffusers located 6,000 feet offshore in water approximately 40 feet deep.

These proposed projects require several DNREC permits and approvals including a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit, a Coastal Zone Management Act Federal Consistency Determination, a Subaqueous Lands Lease, Water Quality Certification, a Wastewater Facilities Construction Permit, and a Beach Preservation Coastal Construction Permit. An overview of the various projects will be provided by the City of Rehoboth Beach’s consultants on the projects, while DNREC staff will be on hand to offer information about the Department’s permitting and approval processes.

The workshop will give the public an opportunity to learn more about the City of Rehoboth Beach’s proposed wastewater projects and to ask questions about the projects and the necessary DNREC permits and approvals that must be in place before the projects can begin. Rehoboth’s permit applications and supporting documents, and a fact sheet and a draft NPDES permit are available on DNREC’s website.

For more information about the workshop, please call John Schneider at 302-739-9939 or email John.Schneider@delaware.gov.

Media Contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 342