Water restrictions lifted in Lewes

The Lewes Board of Public Works has lifted water restrictions that were imposed earlier today after a power outage impacted the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Tom Panetta, Lewes BPW board president, said the the plant is now able to handle a normal winter load, so residents may resume flushing toilets and taking showers.

Panetta said the outage started around 1:30 a.m., during the height of the blizzard.

“When the outage happened we called the National Guard and DelDOT to pick up our crews. It took five hours for the Guard to get out, but once our crews started working they got the circuit back up in 15-20 minutes,” Panetta said. “It was a long day for our crews.”

He said when the power came back on, there must have been a surge that knocked out critical equipment at the plant on American Legion Road.

The BPW issued an alert and told its ratepayers not to flush toilets and to limit water usage.

Panetta said the trenches at the plant did overflow, but the waste did not leave the BPW property.

“The 18-inches of wet snow acted like sandbags,” he said.

Panetta said the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control was notified immediately as is assessing the situation.

He said BPW General Manager Robin Davis and other employees have been at the plant all day further investigating the mishap.

“BPW apologizes for any disruptions this caused,” said Pancetta. “Our crews mobilized as fast as they could and the National Guard and DelDOT really came through.”