The DNREC Division of Water will hold a public hearing (Docket #2023-P-W-0014) on a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the City of Seaford Wastewater Treatment Facility. Public comment period closed.

The City of Seaford has applied for reissuance of its National Pollutant Discharge System (NPDES) Permit No. DE0020265 (State Number WPCC 3161G/74) to discharge treated wastewater from its Wastewater Treatment Facility, located at 403 Nanticoke Avenue in Seaford, Sussex County, Delaware, to the Nanticoke River.

The treatment facility treats domestic waste from Seaford, and from the communities of Blades, Greenwood, and Bridgeville. The facility also receives wastewater from industrial users and maintains a pretreatment program as required by federal regulations.

The waste sludge generated is dewatered and transported to Sussex County’s Inland Bays Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility for final processing and disposal. Seaford maintains its Distribution and Marketing permit for sludge handling/composting as a secondary back-up option.

Public notice of the Department’s receipt of the application and of reaching a tentative permitting determination was published in the Wilmington News Journal and the Delaware State News on May 24, 2023. The Department received comments and one request for a public hearing on June 22, 2023.

For more information on the above matter and to review this application, contact George Mwangi, Division of Water, Commercial and Government Services Section, 89 Kings Hwy., Dover, DE 19901, by phone at (302) 739-9946, or by email at George.Mwangi@delaware.gov.

The Department will accept public comment through the close of business on Nov. 30, 2023. Comments will be accepted in written form via email to DNRECHearingComments@delaware.gov, using the online form at de.gov/dnreccomments, or by U.S. mail to the address on this page.

Transcript

Public Hearing Transcript

DNREC Exhibits

Exhibit 1: NPDES Permit Application

Exhibit 2: Draft Permit and Fact Sheet as published on May 24, 2023

Exhibit 3: Hearing Request (June 22, 2023)

Exhibit 4: Notice of the original public hearing date, as published both in English and in Spanish on the DNREC website on Aug. 27, 2023. Notice of cancellation of that date, as published on the website on Sept. 24, 2023. Notice of the new public hearing date, as published in English, Spanish and in Haitian Creole on the DNREC website on October 8, 2023.

Exhibit 5: Affidavits of publication of the public hearing notice as published in the Delaware State News and in the Wilmington News Journal on Aug. 27, 2023, and in the Delaware State News and in the Wilmington News Journal on October 8, 2023, for the new hearing date.

Exhibit 6: Hearing notice as posted on the state Public Meeting Calendar (Sept. 21, 2023)

Exhibit 7: DNREC presentation in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole (Nov. 1, 2023)

Exhibit 8: EPA presentation in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole (Nov. 1, 2023)

Public Comments

Rachel Casteel, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project (Nov. 20, 2023)
– Attachment