Consultant: Rehoboth outfall has extra capacity, $20M offer is fair

A third-party consultant hired by Rehoboth Beach has indicated that the city’s ocean outfall has the capacity to handle a regional wastewater partnership with Sussex County and Lewes Board of Public Works. The consultant’s report also indicates the county’s proposed payment to connect to the city’s ocean outfall is reasonable.

County and Lewes BPW officials have approached Rehoboth about a partnership because Lewes needs a new wastewater treatment facility. The county has offered the Rehoboth a one-time payment of $20 million, and to pay for future operation and maintenance costs. In return, the county would like the ability to pump up to 5 million gallons per day through Rehoboth’s outfall.

The city hired Hazen and Sawyer, an engineering firm with locations all over the country, to evaluate the capacity of the ocean outfall because concerns were raised months ago that the engineering firm hired to help oversee the construction of the outfall, GHD, is also a consultant for the county.

Representing Hazen and Sawyer at a commissioner workshop Nov. 4 were engineers Jeremy Hise and Alex Lopez. Between the two of them, they have nearly four decades of hydraulic analysis experience.

Lopez handled outfall capacity.

Currently, the city’s wastewater treatment plant has a peak design capacity of close to 7.2 million gallons per day. The ultimate peak carrying capacity of the outfall pipe is 11.45 million gallons per day. The historical peak is 3.4 million gallons per day. The county has requested adding 5 million gallons per day. The historical peak and the county’s request comes in at 8.4 million gallons per day, which leaves 3.05 million gallons per day available to Rehoboth if the city’s wastewater treatment plant pump station is upgraded.

Hise handled the financials. He said given inflation and depreciation, the present worth of the outfall is about $42.7 million. He then took that number and divided it by the maximum daily capacity of 11.45 million to get a total of about $3.7 million per million gallons. The next step is to multiply that amount by five for the county’s portion to get a relative worth of $18.6 million.

The county’s analysis was reviewed; it was found to be fair and reasonable, said Hise.

Following the presentation by Hise and Lopez, there was brief discussion.

Commissioner Craig Thier said he wants to make sure the ratepayers don’t see their costs increase due to this project.

Commissioner Patrick Gossett had concerns about costs related to suggested improvements to the system and how that would affect the overall cost of the project.

Hise said that wasn’t part of this analysis, but it would be included if the city decided to move forward with the partnership.

Former Mayor Sam Cooper, who was in charge when the city went through the original outfall approval process, said he thought the proposal was a good one and that the city should move forward with a memorandum of understanding with the county so they can start moving forward. Another ocean outfall doesn’t make any sense for anybody, he said.

Looking forward, Mayor Stan Mills said the expectation is that city staff will make a presentation on the request, including their opinion, during the commissioner workshop Monday, Dec. 9, with a possible vote on the issue during the commissioner meeting Friday, Dec. 20.

Sussex County County Administrator Todd Lawson said time is of the essence because there’s a two-year period needed to study ocean modeling, and they would like to begin that 2025. If the vote is positive, then the city and county will get the engineers and lawyers to work on the details, he said.