GEORGETOWN, Del., Dec. 9, 2005 – Sussex County’s largest wastewater treatment plant is making the grade, according to the results of a recent inspection.

The South Coastal Regional Wastewater Facility near Ocean View in southeastern Sussex County successfully met all nine areas of review in an annual compliance inspection. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control performed the review on behalf of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Sussex County officials received notice Dec. 5.

The inspection, known as the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System compliance report, looked at a variety of standards, from how the plant’s internal testing is performed and how records are managed to the quality of the plant’s treated discharge.

South Coastal scored ‘satisfactory’ in all areas, and testing results of the water discharged showed the quality of the water was well within the requirements of South Coastal’s EPA permit.

South Coastal is the only county-run wastewater treatment facility that must carry a NPDES permit, by federal law, because it discharges into the Atlantic Ocean, said Heather Sheridan, director of operations for Sussex County’s Division of Operations and Maintenance. The other three county-managed wastewater facilities discharge their treated effluent through a process called spray irrigation, and do not need the federal NPDES permit.

Sheridan said the plant’s performance is the product of hard work by its approximately 35 employees, who keep everything flowing smoothly 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Sussex County should be proud of the Operations and Maintenance staff of the facility,” Sheridan said. “Without a conscientious, hardworking staff, the South Coastal Facility would not have such a consistently high quality effluent and receive excellent evaluations from the state and EPA.”

South Coastal serves about 20,000 customers in southeastern Sussex County. The plant treats anywhere from 1.8 million gallons of wastewater a day during the winter months to as much as 3.6 million gallons a day at the peak of the summer tourist season.

South Coastal is permitted to discharge up to 6 million gallons of water a day. A $21 million construction project going on now will expand the plant’s capacity to 9 millions gallons a day. That project will be completed in early 2007.