Artesian wastewater plant still awaiting approval
A new wastewater treatment plant in Milton is still awaiting approval from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control nearly two years after the department held a public hearing on the proposed facility.
“Still waiting,” said Dave Spacht, president of Artesian Wastewater Management, which would be building the plant.
The slow pace of permitting has Milton officials antsy, as they are looking forward to decommissioning the existing plant off the Broadkill River to move forward with shoreline stabilization and flood mitigation projects.
Artesian is planning to build a wastewater treatment facility at its Sussex Regional Recharge Facility off Route 30 that would be capable of handling up to 625,000 gallons per day; it would serve the Town of Milton and surrounding developments. Artesian took charge of Milton’s wastewater treatment when it bought out Tidewater Environmental Services in January 2022. Artesian currently spray irrigates treated effluent from Allen Harim’s Harbeson plant on a 75-acre network of farm fields. Once it has a permit in hand, Artesian officials have said construction on a new plant will take about 18 months.
Artesian was planning for the facility even before it took over Milton’s wastewater treatment, mainly to serve growth in the areas surrounding Milton. A public hearing on the project was held in February 2022. DNREC officials did not respond to requests for comment on the status of the permit, which would amend Artesian’s existing operations permit for the recharge facility to include the new plant.
Milton officials in the meantime are anxiously awaiting the permit approval. For one, a new plant has been in the works for years, as town officials have long sought to stop disposing of treated effluent into the Broadkill River. The original plan, when Tidewater ran the system, was to build a new plant on town-owned land on Sam Lucas Road. But when Artesian came in, those plans were changed to send Milton’s wastewater to the Sussex Regional Recharge Facility. Either way, once the old Front Street plant is demolished, the land will revert back to the town, which has planned to keep it as open space.
Mayor John Collier said he has been trying to kick the tires with state and federal officials on two projects, both related to reducing nuisance flooding on Front Street, which is particularly bad in the area near the plant. Collier said he has been in talks with Delaware’s congressional delegation to procure funding that would help stabilize the banks of the Broadkill.
The second project would see a portion of Front Street raised through repaving, to keep water from accumulating. That project would have to be done by the Delaware Department of Transportation, which maintains Front Street. C.R. McLeod, spokesman for DelDOT, said work on Front Street is slated to begin in the spring and will include work from Cave Neck Road to Mt. Zion Holy Church. The project will see the installation of new handicapped-accessible ramps, repairing drainage inlets and manholes, repairing utility valves and putting in new asphalt.
