The Lewes Board of Public Works Wastewater Treatment Facility Contingency Planning Committee is exploring alternatives to address the vulnerability to sea-level rise and flood damage of its current wastewater treatment facility. Those alternatives have been narrowed to several options, including the construction of a new facility.
The facility is currently located in a tidal wetland marsh on the bay side of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal where it accepts sewage, treats it, then pumps the effluent into the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal. On an outgoing tide, this effluent flows out through Roosevelt Inlet and onto Lewes Beach. This reusable water could be recycled by alternative inland systems. An excerpt from the 2015 Lewes comprehensive plan includes the following: “According to the 1999 Greenhorne and O’Mara Flood Mitigation Plan and quoted in the 2011 Hazard Mitigation and Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan, ‘Potential damage to this facility poses a serious risk to the community. Access to this structure would likely be cut-off during 100-year event. Damage to the facility could cause a break in service, which would affect all residents and shelters as well as emergency operations at the Beebe Medical Center. Furthermore, flood damage could result in a failure at the plant and might lead to an overflow of the plant’s contents, resulting in a serious health risk to the community.’”
Beebe Healthcare, Lewes Beach and our priceless water supply, our three greatest Lewes assets, are vulnerable and at extreme risk when the plant fails again, is flooded by a tidal surge event, or submerged by sea-level rise. There are several factors that must be considered such as environmental issues, bacterial contamination, drinking water vulnerability, accurate flow reporting, existing low-lying sewage sludge bins below the floodplain, limited capacity of the plant, continued annexation, new construction, increasing customers, funding, and location for a new plant.
Federal and state grants, bonds and other sources of funds are available, several parcels within two miles of the plant’s current location could be identified. The plant must be moved to higher ground to mitigate the risk of failure like the one in 2019 when 4 million gallons of “partially treated” sewage flowed into the canal and onto Lewes Beach for nine days straight. This is a daunting yet critical task for the committee and BPW to plan ahead for our children and grandchildren. The committee members must consider a moratorium until they have a conclusive decision and a plan to expand plant capacity to serve volumes of new customers moving to the area.
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to viewpoints@capegazette.com. All letters are considered at the discretion of the newsroom and published as space allows. Due to the large volume of submissions, we cannot acknowledge receipt of each submission. Letters must include a phone number and address for verification. Keep letters to 400 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content or length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Letters should focus on local issues, not national topics or personalities. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days regarding a particular topic. Authors may submit a second letter within that time period if it pertains to a different issue. Letters may not be critical of personalities or specific businesses. Criticism of public figures is permissible. Endorsement letters for political candidates are no longer accepted. Letters must be the author’s original work, and may not be generated by artificial intelligence tools. Templates, form letters and letters containing language similar to other submissions will not be published.
