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Farmers and Environmentalists Unite Against Rehoboth Wastewater Treatment Pipeline

 

      REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) - Some farmers and environmentalists are opposing Rehoboth Beach's plan to channel treated wastewater through a pipeline offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.

     The News Journal of Wilmington reports that the Board of Commissioners hasbeen seeking an alternative to the current procedure, which deposits effluent into the Lewes & Rehoboth Canal. They requested a $25 million loan from the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to find it.

     The largest uproar over the plan came from the decision to avoid using the wastewater for land application. That method would spray effluent over farmland to irrigate crops.

     According to the proposal, doing it that way is far more costly than ocean outfall.

     The president of the Delaware Farm Bureau, Gary Warren urged that the effluent be recycled.

 

 

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.