- An Artesian Resources photo of the spray irrigation system in operation in Middletown, Del.
Artesian Resources is taking its case to the public that the City of Rehoboth Beach should use treated wastewater for farming and not using an expensive ocean outlet for disposal.
According to a release, the utility continues to make the recommendation after earlier seeing its proposal being rejected.
Creating a water recycling partnership between Rehoboth Beach, Artesian and nearby farmers is not only a more environmentally friendly method for the city to manage its wastewater, but would save taxpayers $6 million over an ocean outfall solution, according to Artesian Senior Vice President John Thaeder.
Not mentioned in the release, but also a factor is the ability of farmers to better cope with drought conditions by using the irrigation method. Use of treated wastewater is common throughout the world. There have been concerns that spray irrigation could affect nitrogen levels in inland bays, but one study in an area near the Pennsylvania-Delaware line showed levels had remained within guidelines.
Spray irrigation also reduces the mining of water from wells and could cut fertilizer use. See study link at http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3092/
“Using reclaimed water to irrigate farmland allows the agricultural community to benefit from the resource instead of removing more water from our groundwater supply and thus becomes a win-win situation for the city and the farmers,” Thaeder said in testimony yesterday at a hearing on the environmental impacts of Rehoboth’s ocean outfall plan. “DNREC (Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control) now considers spray irrigation to be their preferred method of wastewater management, and it is used in all three counties of Delaware.”
A similar water recycling partnership, which Artesian put together for Middletown, Del., in 2010, saves up to 2.5 million gallons of water per day and enables farmers to spray irrigate crops with reclaimed water instead of using pumped ground water.
Rehoboth considered and dismissed the use of spray irrigation after their consulting engineering firm claimed that land would not be available for the system and that the cost would be too high for residents. Thaeder said that Rehoboth’s information was old and inaccurate.
“Sussex County has thousands of acres in agricultural use between Rehoboth and Georgetown that are commercially farmed,” he said. “In fact, the area between Rehoboth and Milton, within a half mile of the proposed pipeline, has more than 4,000 acres of active farm land, and the flow from Rehoboth’s plant could help irrigate up to 2,000 acres of that land.”
Artesian’s spray irrigation system would cost less than $24 million, which is $6 million less than the current estimated cost to build the ocean outfall system, Thaeder reported. User rates would also be comparable to the rates estimated if an ocean outfall was constructed.
“We should be giving reclaimed water to the farmers who want it instead of to the tourists who don’t want it.” Thaeder said.
Artesian, based near Newark, operates in all three of Delaware’s counties as well as Cecil County, Md. It has been working to grow its wastewater operations. Artesian gets the bulk of its revenue from water service in New Castle County. – Doug Rainey
