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Lewes boat ramp plantings to reduce pollution
DNREC landscaping slows runoff
DNREC Fish and Wildlife building on Pilottown Road BY TAGGART HOUCK
July 5, 2014
Switchgrass, which can have roots reaching up to 8 feet long, is added to the parking lot. Passwaters and his employees will spend the next two weeks planting more than 15,000 plants including switchgrass, little bluestem, goldenrod, ink-berries, and black chokeberry. “They help capture any pollutants from the parking lot,” he said. "If there weren't anything to capture it, it'd go right out to the bays.” BY TAGGART HOUCK
The parking lot on Pilottown Road contains sections of grass that show signs of erosion allowing polluted runoff to reach the canal. Delaware's Nonpoint Source program in partnership with DNREC's Division of Watershed Stewardship and Fish & Wildlife, and the Center for the Inland Bays hired Sussex Landscaping to plant shrubs and other plants in the grass to take up the runoff. BY TAGGART HOUCK
Jim Passwaters, left, and Aaron Hurd plant switchgrass in the parking lot. BY TAGGART HOUCK
Environmental officials are landscaping the parking lot at the public boat ramp in Lewes.
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Fish and Wildlife officials say the plants will prevent stormwater from running off the parking lot into the canal.
Delaware's Nonpoint Source program in partnership with DNREC's Division of Watershed Stewardship and Fish & Wildlife, and the Center for the Inland Bays hired Sussex Landscaping to plant shrubs and other plants.
The project is expected to take around two weeks to complete.
