Selbyville receives emergency water grant

  The USDA has awarded the town of Selbyville with emergency grant funds to further help the town meet the required funds needed to provide a safe and reliable water supply to its residents.

In 2009, Selbyville was notified that their drinking water was contaminated with MTBE, an additive to gasoline to reduce smog.

Since then, Selbyville has been working with multiple local and federal officials to fix the problem, including U.S. Senator Tom Carper and U.S. Senator Chris Coons.

We’re told they tried to drill more wells, but the contamination reportedly spread to the new wells soon after that’s when the EPA and USDA stepped in.

2.7 million dollars for a new plant will be covered by the Delaware Department of Public Health’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). An additional 500,000 dollars will come from the USDA—the money Selbyville needed to close the gap for the funds.

USDA Community programs director Denise MacLeish says, “We requested the funding from our national office and it was provided the beginning of July so from February to July and we were able to get the additional funding needed to the town to match with the state partner.”

The new water treatment facility is already underway behind town hall.