REHOBOTH, Del. (AP) - Delaware's environmental secretary has ordered the closing of a shellfish harvest area in Rehoboth Bay near the city of Rehoboth's wastewater treatment plant.
Officials said this week's closure is based on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration assessment of theoretical wastewater discharges, and not on water quality changes in the area.
State shellfish program officials determined that the conditionally-approved area on Rehoboth Bay no longer meets conditions to allow seasonal harvesting, based on the FDA's revised theoretical wastewater discharge dilution criteria.
The previous seasonal classification, from Dec. 1 through April 15, was based on adjacent marina use and historic low wastewater effluent discharge levels during winter months from the wastewater plant. The plant discharges effluent into the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal, which connects to the northeast corner of Rehoboth Bay.
