Lewes BPW to update wastewater plant options
The future of the Lewes wastewater treatment plant will be the topic of a public workshop Tuesday, Oct. 28.
It will be the Lewes Board of Public Works’ seventh public workshop on long-range planning. The discussions began in 2023.
Tom Panetta, BPW board president, said the board of directors will give an update on the status of the project, including why long-range planning remains necessary, how the project evolved, a review of the various options that have been evaluated, and the current project structure and plan.
At the last workshop, held March 18, BPW officials discussed two options, both involving a partnership with Sussex County at its Wolfe Neck facility.
Both options would still have effluent discharged into the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.
Panetta said they will discuss updated cost figures for the options.
BPW had been moving forward with a third option, constructed wetlands in the Wolfe Neck area, but a significant archeological find in September 2023 scuttled that option and forced them to look at regional solutions.
The public workshop will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Bonnie Osler Meeting Room at the Rollins Center.
The agenda, meeting link and workshop presentation materials are available at lewesbpwde.gov.
Bill Shull has been covering Lewes for the Cape Gazette since 2023. He comes to the world of print journalism after 40 years in TV news. Bill has worked in his hometown of Philadelphia, as well as Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He came to Lewes in 2014 to help launch WRDE-TV. Bill served as WRDE’s news director for more than eight years, working in Lewes and Milton. He is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University. Bill is an avid aviation and wildlife photographer, and a big Penn State football, Eagles, Phillies and PGA Tour golf fan. Bill, his wife Jill and their rescue cat, Lucky, live in Rehoboth Beach.
