Rehoboth renews sludge disposal contract
With a more than 20 percent increase in its cost, Rehoboth renewed its contract with a Milford farmer that allows disposal of the sludge remaining from the wastewater treatment process.
During a commissioner meeting Feb. 15, City Manager Sharon Lynn said the city reached an agreement with Mark Wells, owner of Wells Farm in Milford, to spray the sludge on approximately 85 acres of land. She said the contract is for three years, with an option for two additional years.
Lynn said the city will be paying an extra $100 an acre over the recently expired three-year contract – from $450 to $550 – roughly a 22 percent increase. She said the city will be paying $46,750 annually.
Public Works Director Kevin Williams explained the disposal process of the sludge during a commissioner workshop Feb. 4. He said the sludge is loaded into tanker trucks, land applied and used as fertilizer for crops.
At the workshop, Commissioner Stan Mills said all the bacteria are killed during the treatment process and the crops are used as animal feed.
This may be one of the last times the city has to execute a contract of this nature. In the 2017, the city renewed its wastewater agreement with Sussex County. In that agreement, there’s wording that says the county would take the treated waste and process it through its facility.
During the workshop, Williams said it should be a lot cheaper for the city to send sludge to the county if the city can live up to its end of the agreement, and calls for the sludge to be between 16 percent and 24 percent solid. Currently, he said the sludge coming from the city’s wastewater treatment facility is in the low single digits, which dewatering is required to meet the county standard.
Williams said some of the treatment plant upgrades recommended by GHD, the city’s consulting engineer, are related to improving the dewatering process.
During the workshop meeting, Jeff Sturdevant, GHD engineer, said roughly $23 million in upgrades are still needed at the 30-year-old treatment plant to keep up with federal permitting. He said part of those upgrades includes the dewatering process.
According to a July 2017 presentation from GHD, the construction of a biosolids facility would account for roughly $6 million of the total wastewater treatment plant upgrades.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
