DNREC Approves Rehoboth Beach Outfall

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources has approved a controversial wastewater bill.
     The bill approves a proposed outfall which would pump treated sewage from the Rehoboth Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant out into the ocean through a 6000-ft. pipeline forty feet below the surface.
     The approval of the outfall is based on an environmental impact statement.
     However the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club claims that study was flawed and not peer-reviewed.
     Officials claim the outfall may harm fish and other marine animals. The Environmental Impact statement states the following as potentially overlooked issues:

• The report used irrelevant information as a justification for evaluating pharmaceutical pollution.  The statement is not allowed to claim that the plant’s ability to remove pharmaceuticals and evaluate public health.
• Inappropriate reference data was used to determine a lack of impact on benthic life based upon a case study that was located in a different part of the ocean.
• A similarly inappropriate case study was used to determine a lack of impact on plankton.
• The statement failed to incorporate non-commercial and recreational fish into the evaluation.
• Atlantic Sturgeon was factored into the assessment and migration paths were not taken into consideration to determine an impact to this endangered species.