NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
June 12, 2008
Vol. 38, No. 271
For more information contact Kathy Bunting-Howarth, Division of Water Resources, 302-739-9949, John Schneider, Division of Water Resources, 302-739-9939 or Melanie Rapp, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.
Hearing Set for June 23 on Proposed Inland Bays Pollution Control Strategy
DNREC’s Division of Water Resources Watershed Assessment Section will hold a public hearing 6 p.m. Monday, June 23 on the proposed Inland Bays Pollution Control Strategy. The hearing will be held at the Georgetown CHEER Center, 20520 Sandhill Road, Georgetown.
DNREC has released the proposed Strategy designed to reduce the amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus entering the Indian River, Indian River Bay, Rehoboth Bay and the Little Assawoman Bay and their tributaries to levels required to meet water quality standards.
"An incredible amount of staff and public input has gone into this Pollution Control Strategy for the Inland Bays," said DNREC Secretary John A. Hughes. "It has a nine-year history. It's time to stop planning and start reducing pollution."
The proposed Strategy replaces the previous version published in the May 2007 Delaware Register of Regulations.
“The proposed Strategy was painstakingly developed after meetings and discussions with the scientific community, stakeholder groups and the public, and after reviewing comments from two public hearings held last year,” said Kathy Bunting-Howarth, acting director of the Division of Water Resources. “We believe the Strategy represents the most effective approach to improve and protect water quality in the Inland Bays. We have a tremendous opportunity to protect these waters for us and for future generations.”
The proposed Strategy includes provisions to establish riparian buffers to filter pollutants before they flow into the Inland Bays and their tributaries. The Strategy includes a map highlighting the primary and secondary waters and the proposed buffer widths. Primary waters, including the Inlands Bays and tributaries with continual streamflow and state-regulated wetlands, require buffer widths of 100 feet, while secondary waters, including bay tributaries with intermittent streamflow, require 60 foot buffers. Buffer widths may be reduced to 50 feet on primary waters and to 30 feet on secondary waters with enhanced stormwater management and a development-wide nutrient management plan.
The proposed Strategy also requires the pump-out and inspection of onsite wastewater treatment and disposal systems (septic systems) that serve homes and businesses which are sold or transferred to other owners. In addition advanced treatment for nitrogen reduction is required for all new and replacement onsite wastewater and disposal systems on properties located within 1000 feet of tidal waters and wetlands, as mapped in the proposed Strategy. All new and replacement systems would be required to use this technology in 2015.
The Inland Bays Pollution Control Strategy is available on DNREC’s website, www.dnrec.delaware.gov or by contacting Maryann Pielmeier, Division of Water Resources, (302) 739-9939.
Comments may be presented either orally or in writing at the public hearing on June 23 or in writing during the public comment period, which ends June 30. Comments can be submitted electronically to John.Schneider@state.de.us or in writing, by fax (302) 739-6140 or by mail:
John Schneider
DNREC, Division of Water Resources
Watershed Assessment Section
820 Silver Lake Boulevard, Suite 220
Dover, DE 19904-2462
Delaware’s Inland Bays are recognized as waters of exceptional recreational and ecological significance. In 1998, the Inland Bays Tributary Action Team, a group of stakeholders representing citizens, businesses, organizations and government, was formed to develop a Pollution Control Strategy. In 1998 and 2004, DNREC completed total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for nutrients for the Inland Bays. TMDLs establish the maximum amount of individual pollutants that can be discharged to a water body from point (direct) or nonpoint (indirect) sources while maintaining water quality standards.
Nonpoint sources of nutrients include onsite wastewater treatment and disposal systems (septic systems), runoff from development (stormwater) and agricultural runoff. About 80 percent of the fresh water entering the bays is groundwater, which means that nutrients that flow through the soil also enter the groundwater.
The TMDLs for the Inland Bays established that nonpoint sources of nitrogen and phosphorus need to be reduced by 40 to 85 percent to bring the water quality to the level sufficient to protect human health and support aquatic life.
Riparian buffers – areas of vegetation adjacent to waterways – play a significant role in protecting and improving water quality by filtering runoff and groundwater and removing excess nutrients.
