 UPDATE:
On December 14th the Rehoboth Beach City Commissioners voted to use the ocean as a dump. They chose to send their sewage treatment plant effluent into the ocean. They turned down the viable alternative of Land Based Application, or LBA, where this treated water is used to irrigate farmland growing. LBA is currently being used successfully in Delaware.
Treated water from sewage treatment plants contains nutrients that can be bad for the marine environment. These nutrients contribute to Harmful Algal Blooms and Red Tides. Discharging into the ocean also wastes freshwater that cannot be recovered. LBA puts nutrients where they can be used by crops, thus reducing the need for additional fertilizer. It also saves freshwater by recharging aquifers and keeps Delaware farming.
A Court order told the City of Rehoboth Beach to stop discharging their sewage treatment plant wastewater into the Rehoboth Lewes canal because the nutrient-rich effluent was damaging the Canal and Rehoboth Bay. It therefore makes no sense to send the plant's future wastewater into the ocean, which is simply a bigger body of water.
The City of Rehoboth is basing their decision purely on economics and cost to Rehoboth residents based on flawed studies comparing ocean discharge to LBA. State agencies like DNREC, the Farm Bureau, and the DE legislature have already expressed support for saving freshwater, preserving farmland and reducing unnecessary harm to the marine environment by supporting the concept of Land Based Application.
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The City of Rehoboth Beach has been ordered by the EPA to stop polluting our inland bays by dumping treated sewage in the Rehoboth-Lewes Canal. On November 7th, 2009 (10am Rehoboth Fire Hall), the public has a chance to let the City know how we feel about the alternative plans for this wastewater.
The Delaware Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation strongly opposes the creation of an ocean
outfall in Rehoboth Beach! The ocean is not a dump! Let’s not treat it as one.
Clean and healthy beaches are the single most important driver of Rehoboth Beach's tourism-based economy.
An ocean outfall will be bad for our City because:
- It will turn tourists away. People will not choose to vacation at a beach where treated
sewage is being pumped off-shore. They will choose a better option.
- The nutrients in the wastestream will harm our coastal environment. Excess nutrients
help fuel Red Tides and other Harmful Algal Blooms and the outfall pipe will be interrupting
Essential Fish Habitat.
- It is a waste of fresh water. We can treat and reuse the water where it is most needed.
- It is a waste of money. The City's cost study does not take into consideration future costs of
the outfall, such as loss of tourism, harm to environment and opportunities squandered to
conserve fresh water.
The Surfrider Foundation instead supports Land Based Application (LBA) as the better option to recycle our wastewater and protect our beaches, environment and local economy.
LBA is good for Rehoboth Beach because it will:
- recharge our groundwater, protecting our water supply. Delaware has gone through drought conditions. We can't be wasting our fresh water;
- provide a weather independent supply of freshwater for large-scale irrigation needs;
- help protect water quality, as crops, turf and other plants filter out some of the remaining
pollution in the wastewater by taking up nutrients, particularly nitrogen which has been
especially problematic in our coastal waters; and
- protect against salt water intrusion into our groundwater.
Tell the Mayor and City Commissioners that they should choose the LBA option if they are serious about protecting our City's beaches, economy and way of life. |
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Contact Delaware Chapter Surfrider Foundation
P.O. Box 1114 Millsboro, DE 19966
Email: delaware@surfrider.org |
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