Lewes BPW focusing on new canal crossing after main failure

The Lewes Board of Public Works is now focused on building a new water main crossing under the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal after the Aug. 20 break that knocked out service to the entire city.

BPW discussed its next steps at a special meeting Aug. 23. BPW President Tom Panetta said the board is turning its attention to adding a fourth canal crossing to serve customers on the beach side.

BPW applied to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control in January for an emergency permit for the new crossing. Panetta said BPW immediately reached out to DNREC after the failure, asking to have that permit expedited. He said DNREC agreed to move it up but has not issued a timetable.

Panetta said George, Miles & Buhr has completed most of the engineering design.

He said BPW has already met with the first of three vendors to get quotes on the project. Those bids are due by Friday, Sept. 13.

Panetta said the new crossing would be at the location of the old railroad swing bridge. It would run from the end of the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail, deep underwater, across the marsh and tie into a line on American Legion Road.

Panetta said BPW is still researching the root cause of the two main failures near the Savannah Road bridge in the early morning hours of Aug. 20.

Water service was gradually returned to customers throughout the day. But, BPW issued a boil water order until samples came back from a state testing lab confirming it was safe to use. That order was lifted in less than 24 hours.

A diver spent much of Aug. 22 in the canal inspecting the broken main and a second crossing at that location.

Panetta said the failure provided a good teamwork experience.

He thanked his staff and the city for getting timely alerts out to the public.

Panetta said BPW will hold a lessons-learned meeting to go over what they could have done better. He said solutions will likely apply to all their utilities, not just water.

BPW will further discuss next steps at its regular monthly meeting at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 28, at city hall. The meeting link can be found at lewesbpwde.gov.