Partnership benefits from cost savings, technical expertise.
Severn Trent Services announces its public-private partnership with Lewes, Delaware for operation and maintenance of the Town’s 1.5 MGD wastewater system has been renewed. Serving the Town’s seaside population of 3,000, the partnership is valued at $450,000 per year.
Since the inception of the partnership in 2002, Severn Trent’s technical specialists have worked with the Lewes Board of Public Works to obtain an NPDES discharge permit that would not require the relocation of the effluent discharge from the Lewes Rehoboth canal, saving the Town millions of dollars in the process.
In 2005, the Town began construction on a new facility incorporating membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology. Working with Severn Trent, the Howard H. Seymour Water Reclamation Plant was completed at approximately half the cost of the original concept that would have required spray irrigation of the effluent. The new MBR facility, dedicated in April 2008, is the first of its kind in Delaware.
“In today’s economy, any steps a municipality – large or small – can take to save money is paramount to success. The continued faith the Town of Lewes has shown in Severn Trent Services as its private partner is a testament to the benefits of public-private partnerships,” noted Dana Kaas, vice president, Operating Services.