MILLSBORO, Del.- Officials on Wednesday highlighted funding for improvements to Millsboro's wastewater system, saying progress is being made toward satisfying the state's mandate to achieve a zero-discharge of nutrients into the Inland Bays by 2014.
With USDA and state funding, the Millsboro Wastewater Treatment Facility is on track to eliminating discharges into the Indian River by the end of 2013. Originally built in 1964, the plant was upgraded in 2009 with a nutrient removal system that makes the discharge close to drinking water quality.
Crews were still working at Millsboro Middle School on Wednesday, installing an irrigation system that will use the treated wastewater effluent on the school's athletic fields.
"We've done baseball fields, football fields all kinds of school districts for years, big projects, but this is the first time we've ever done wastewater," said Richard Williams of R & L Irrigation. "Let's use the water we've already pumped and use it where we can benefit from it."
Next the town of Millsboro plans to acquire land to build an aquifer recharge site, which should be completed by December 2013. The aquifer recharge will consist of spray irrigation and a Rapid Infiltration Basin System.
Chris Bason, executive director of the Center for the Inland Bays, told WBOC by using the treated wastewater for irrigation, the land will act as an additional filter.
"Grasses and other plants will take up those nutrients before it gets back into the water so the watershed itself, the lands of the water, will hold and filter those nutrients before they reenter the river," Bason said. "Some people thought we could never make it, but we're here and the bays are cleaning up."
Officials say these improvements will protect the health and safety of families and create around 100 jobs for Delawareans.
"You'll have folks involved in the design work of the project, in the actual engineering, folks involved in the permitting and making sure that the performance standards are met and you'll have folks in the actual construction," Delaware Department of Natural Collin O'Mara told WBOC.
State funding for these upgrades since 2007 total approximately $14.7 million. Since 2009, the USDA's investment in Millsboro includes a $4.28 million grant and a low-interest loan of $14.5 million.
