Wastewater treatment plant in Dorchester Co. gets millions in grant
DORCHESTER CO., Md. – After more than a decade of planning, the towns of Secretary and East New Market are getting a new water plant. One that could turn the tide for their community.
“Our current plant does not meet the guidelines,” said the Mayor of Secretary, Henry Short.
The two towns recently got about 13 million dollars in both state and federal grant money to help them replace the old water plant that they share and meet new Department of the Environment requirements.
“We have to be able to meet them or we would be in violation and we don’t want to be in violation for numerous reasons, it would be costly,” said Town Commissioner, Susan Dukes.
This plan would help reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus that gets dumped into the Choptank River.
“Everything that we put out could affect the oyster population, the crabs and we really want to work to clean up the bay,” said Short.
According to the mayor of Secretary Henry Short their water plant has crumbled over time forcing them to use an excessive amount of chlorine to clean up their water, which is also harmful for wildlife.
“There’d be no more sludge, like you see trucks go in the pond with sludge, there will be none of that,” said Short, “This new system is state of the art.”
It is a plan town officials say they desperately need to complete in order to put the community on a better path for years to come.
“MDE could then come in and take over our plant and we are trying to make it, so that we can still maintain control and do what’s best for the citizens of the town and East New Market,” said Dukes.
Area leaders say that they need a 1.1 million dollar loan to help with the costs and that means that sewer bills could go up sooner rather than later.
Town officials add that the construction project is expected to start in the spring of 2020. They say it will take about a year for construction to be completed.
The new plant will allow them to use less chemicals and more state-of-the-art technology.
