Artesian force main construction underway in Milton
Drivers along Union Street in Milton have experienced some delays in their commute due to the ongoing installation of a new force main by Artesian Wastewater.
The project calls for building a new force main from the Chandler Street pump station to Artesian’s new wastewater treatment plant at the company’s Sussex Regional Recharge Facility on Route 30 outside town. The new force main is planned to run up Union Street over to Lavinia Street and then behind Shipbuilder’s Village. The line would then go on to Route 16 to connect to existing lines on Route 30.
Artesian is in the process of decommissioning Milton's existing wastewater treatment plant on Front Street to begin moving operations to SRRF, a 1,700-acre complex of spray irrigation fields, a lagoon and, eventually, a wastewater treatment plant. While the Milton plant will be decommissioned and will eventually be demolished with the land returned to the town, Artesian will continue to pay for land rights to the existing outfall into the Broadkill River. Although Artesian does not plan to continue using the outfall for disposing of treated wastewater, the company would like to keep it as an emergency backup.
Artesian took control of Milton’s wastewater operations in December 2022, when the company purchased Tidewater Environmental Services, which had been the town’s wastewater contractor since 2007.
Ryan Mavity covers Milton and the court system. He is married to Rachel Swick Mavity and has two kids, Alex and Jane. Ryan started with the Cape Gazette all the way back in February 2007, previously covering the City of Rehoboth Beach. A native of Easton, Md. and graduate of Towson University, Ryan enjoys watching the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Capitals and Baltimore Orioles in his spare time.
