Middlesex Water Company (Middlesex) said that its subsidiary, Tidewater Utilities, Inc. (Tidewater), has received county zoning approval to construct two regional wastewater treatment and disposal facilities in Sussex County, Delaware. The Trussum facility will use the sequencing batch reactor treatment technology and the rapid infiltration basin disposal to recharge treated wastewater to the underground aquifer.
Tidewater has received a county approval to construct the Trussum Regional Water and Wastewater Treatment and the Disposal Facilities east of Laurel and also the Wandendale Regional Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Facility on the Route 24 near Angola, both in Sussex County, Delaware.
The Trussum facility will have the ability to serve the existing residences, approved subdivisions and the future subdivisions expected in the area. The Wandendale facility will use membrane bio-reactor treatment technology and will also use rapid infiltration basins, additionally to land-based spray irrigation, to recharge the aquifer. The project will be constructed in the phases to increase the operational efficiency of the facility in the relation to the incremental increases in flow rates as homes are constructed. At build-out, both the facilities will be designed to serve over 5,000 homes and the businesses.
We appreciate the confidence Sussex County, DE is placing in our company as we continue to execute our strategy to expand the regional approach to providing water and wastewater services. We believe this approach to constructing utility infrastructure effectively maximizes the opportunity for local governments to establish growth where it is desired, while simultaneously maximizing the opportunity for developers to achieve the density that is necessary to market their homes. In addition, we are in a position to provide the opportunity for failing on-site systems to be connected, said Dennis W. Doll, president and chief executive officer of Middlesex Water. Tidewater President Gerard L. Esposito added, In addition to enhancing quality of life in their respective areas, these facilities have significant environmental benefits which will help protect the Nanticoke River basin as well as our Inland Bays from excessive amounts of nutrients.
We are pleased to be a part of the future environmental protection of Delaware’s Inland Bays where our family has lived and farmed for seven generations, said Russell Marsh, owner of Wandendale Farms, the site of the farm where the Wandendale facility will be located. Partnering with Tidewater assured the future generation of the Marsh family that our legacy farm will maintain its agricultural tradition, while helping protect the environment for future generations, added Marsh.