Lewes BPW receives report on treatment plant options
A report by the Lewes Board of Public Works Contingency Committee recommends four possible sites for a new wastewater treatment plant and options for hardening the current facility.
The committee was formed in July to explore ways to address sea-level rise and flood damage at the existing plant on American Legion Road.
A 2022 study by engineering firm GHD looked at two options: harden the current facility or build a new plant from scratch.
The committee, chaired by BPW member Barbara Curtis, focused on alternatives for the first those options. It investigated technology, locations and cost.
Curtis presented the draft report at a BPW special meeting Jan. 29.
BPW had previously stated that it favors a third option: partnering with the county on an outfall from the county Wolfe Neck facility, because it would be the most cost effective. BPW General Manager Austin Calaman said the county is currently studying the option.
At BPW’s regular meeting Jan. 24, President Tom Panetta said there’s no update on negotiations with the county. Until an agreement is reached, the cost of that option cannot be calculated.
The findings of a Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control archeological survey at the Wolfle Neck site last summer is also clouding the future of a county partnership as an alternative. It could force BPW to abandon that option altogether.
The state has not released any details of what the survey found. DNREC was planning to do a phase two study before this spring. Curtis said BPW has not received any update or results. DNREC has also not responded to requests from the Cape Gazette.
The committee’s draft report recommendation for Option 1 calls for floodproofing by elevating structures, rather than building a sea wall around the current plant. The report called the elevation idea more cost-effective and less unsightly. The report said Option 1 would cost an estimated $18 million, plus $500,000 per year to operate and maintain.
The report recommends four possible locations for a new plant. One is the current site. A new facility there would take up a much smaller footprint. The American Legion Road site is the only option located in the floodplain.
The other identified sites comprise land adjacent to Freeman Highway that is owned by DNREC, but in city limits; BPW and city land on Schley Avenue; and a 3-acre vacant parcel bordering the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, trail and Freeman Highway.
Those three locations are outside the 500-year floodplain.
“If we build on a new site, it should be safe for as long as we have Lewes around,” Curtis said.
The report says Option 2 would be the most expensive, an estimated $35 million to $40 million to build and $300,000 to $500,000 per year to operate and maintain.
The committee concluded that the most cost-effective technology for Options 1 and 2 is the AquaNereda Aerobic Granular Sludge process and its associated equipment.
Curtis said the newer technology has lower capital and operating costs. She said it would only require a 2- to 3-acre site, instead of the current plant that sits on just over six acres. She also said it produces effluent just as clean as the current system, but is much easier to run.
“We have some real options, but we don’t have all the numbers,” Curtis said. “We need to determine the costs, risks and benefits, and [learn] what the community thinks about these other options,” she said.
BPW board member Preston Lee conceded that any of those locations will be a tough sell.
“No matter what we do, public acceptance is going to be a major challenge. This is the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do [on this board],” he said.
“The position of the plant today with sea-level rise is a disaster waiting to happen,” said Lewes resident Nick Carter. “My suggestion is to move the plant to higher ground.”
BPW did not take any action on the draft report. It could discuss it further at its next regular meeting, scheduled for 4 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 28 at city hall.
