Artesian prepares citizens for takeover of Milton wastewater system

With its purchase of Tidewater Environmental Services now official, Artesian Water Company is now beginning the process of preparing to on-board new customers and start planning to build a new wastewater treatment plant at Artesian’s Sussex Regional Recharge Facility in Milton. 

During a Feb. 1 Zoom meeting, Artesian Chief Financial Officer Dave Spacht, senior engineer Dan Kostanski and head of customer service Elaine Christopher gave a presentation on the changes associated with the Tidewater deal, customer information and took questions. 

Spacht said Artesian’s primary objective in purchasing Tidewater Environmental is to regionalize their system within Sussex County. Kostanski expanded on that, saying that prior to the Tidewater deal, Artesian’s wastewater systems were woven within areas already being served by Tidewater. By purchasing Tidewater Environmental, Artesian is able to regionalize its system, Kostanski said. 

“Wastewater is best handled through regional systems,” he said. “Right now, all the developments you all are living in is what’s called a community system. You have a small wastewater system that serves your community and maybe some surrounding developments.”

Kostanski said what Artesian is building is a regionalized system that will be interconnected where force mains and pump stations can transfer wastewater to larger plants.

“It allows us to streamline operations,” he said. 

Kostanski added that a benefit to this is that if something goes wrong, effluent can be diverted to another plant and service can continue. 

That integration is what Artesian has in mind for Milton, where the town’s wastewater will be sent to a plant to be built at the Sussex Regional Recharge Facility on Route 30. Besides Milton, the new plant would also serve surrounding developments outside town. 

Several of those on the Zoom call asked questions about how their billing would be affected. Christopher said customers will be able to pay by check or money order through the mail or online at Artesian’s website. Customers who have automatic payments set up through Tidewater will have to cancel their accounts there and set up payments with Artesian’s e-billing system at schedulepayment.com/aws. Customers in the town of Milton will still be billed on a quarterly basis as part of a settlement agreement with the town that will last for seven years. Spacht said for other customers coming into Artesian not in-town Milton, rates will be a monthly, flat rate that will remain the same as they were with Tidewater until Artesian’s system is fully integrated.

Permit hearing set for Feb. 23

Starting at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 23, Artesian will be subject of a Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control public hearing on permits for the new wastewater treatment plant. 

Artesian is seeking a construction permit and an operations permit for the facility. 

The construction permit would allow Artesian to build a plant that would be designed to treat 625,000 gallons per day. According to DNREC, the project includes building a 3 million gallon water diversion lagoon, screening equipment and a lift station to pump treated wastewater to an existing 90 million gallon storage lagoon already on-site. The plant would be on a 75-acre site south of Reynolds Pond Road off Route 30. 

On the operations permit, Artesian is seeking to amend its existing permit to accept and treat wastewater from territories around Sussex County and spray the treated effluent on its existing spray fields. Artesian’s current permit allows it to spray treated wastewater from Allen Harim’s Harbeson poultry processing plant. 

The public can participate in the public hearing virtually through the DNREC public hearings site at de.gov/dnrechearings. If asked for a password, use: ART.SRRF.Permits. To access the audio-only portion of the virtual hearing, dial in at 1-408-418-9388 and enter event number 2338 948 3371. 

Those seeking to submit comments must pre-register no later than noon on Feb. 23 at de.gov/dnreccomments or by telephone at 739-9001. Public comments can be submitted up to Thursday, March 10 and will be accepted in written form at DNRECHearingComments@delaware.gov or by using the online form at de.gov/dnreccomments, or by mail to Lisa Vest, Hearing Officer, Office of the Secretary, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE, 19901.