Healthy Inland Bays important to Sussex economy

“This is a good time to pause and assess what we’ve done. All the hard work has made a difference.”
– Chris Bason, Center for the Inland Bays

The message is clear: over the past 30 years the health of Delaware’s Inland Bays has improved, in some respects significantly. But the increasing pressure of a growing human population in Sussex County will continue to raise environmental challenges.

An annual report provided recently by the Center for the Inland Bays indicates that nutrient levels, overall water quality and the number of fish and wildlife in the bays’ watershed are all trending positively. It should come as no surprise that there has been improvement.  What would be surprising would be a report that no improvement has been found.

A tremendous amount of human effort and money has gone into reversing the downward spiral evident a few decades back when the shores of the bays were filling with septic tanks whose contents eventually made their way into those waters.  In addition, many wastewater treatment facilities dumped questionably treated effluent into the bays. In the years since, only three of 13 municipalities and industrial complexes that once dumped their wastes into the bays continue.

Efforts are under way to address those. The Clean Water Act passed by the U.S. Congress, along with serious funding to build better wastewater treatment facilities to meet tougher standards, is largely responsible for our improved bays. County and municipal efforts are continuing that will also pay positive environmental dividends in the future.

In the meantime, NRG is spending half a billion dollars to upgrade its Indian River generating plant, which will also make a significant contribution to a cleaner watershed.

The magnificent natural gems called Rehoboth Bay, Indian River Bay and Little Assawoman Bay provide great recreational and food resources for our region, and as such, play an important role in the quality of life that brings people to Sussex as visitors and residents.

Maintaining the positive trend in the bays’ quality needs to remain a high priority with a constant eye on the progress that can be made when wise action is taken.