Artesian files for piping permit to service spray irrigation

Artesian Water Company has filed for a permit to construct 5,500 linear feet of piping to service its spray irrigation fields outside Milton.

Artesian plans to construct the pipe to run north, parallel to Route 30 before shifting northwest toward the intersection of Route 30 and Reynolds Pond Road. From there, the pipe will split into two sections, one crossing Reynolds Pond Road and running north, while the other will cross Route 30 and run west.

Artesian spokesman Michael Bard said the pipes are part of the company’s Sussex Regional Recharge Facility and will service two fields north of the main spray field adjacent to Kemp’s Liquors at the intersection of Route 30 and Route 16. Bard said this project will install the infrastructure for future use at the facility.

While there is no construction timetable for this piping, Bard said he does not anticipate any road closures for construction.

The 1,700-acre facility contains a 90-million-gallon storage lagoon with spray rigs for the open fields and solid set sprinklers for the fields in the woods. The project has aroused controversy, in part, for the facility’s first customer: Allen Harim’s poultry processing plant. The plan is for Allen Harim to treat its wastewater on-site and then pump to Artesian’s spray irrigation facility, where the treated effluent will be sprayed on cropland.

Environmental advocates have questioned the treatment of the effluent by Allen Harim, the effects on groundwater around Milton, and the main spray field’s proximity to the Clean Delaware spray fields across the street.

Citizens group Keep Our Wells Clean is appealing Artesian’s construction permit, and a hearing will be held in front of the state’s Environmental Appeals Board at 9 a.m., Tuesday, March 12, at Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Dover office building.

Anthony Scarpa, one of the principals of Keep Our Wells Clean, said he does not think the group will seek a public hearing on the new piping permit, but is focusing its efforts on the March 12 hearing. He said their appeal is for the entire facility, so these two fields would be covered.

Scarpa said Artesian’s environmental assessments on the facility do not take the Clean Delaware site, which has a history of environmental violations, into account. He said dumping more water into that area could push contaminated groundwater further toward the neighborhoods both around the site and near the town of Milton. Scarpa has said the goal of the appeal is to prevent spraying on the main field across from the Clean Delaware site.

Despite the appeal, Artesian is pressing forward. Bard said Artesian anticipates beginning pumping to the facility midway through this year.