Delaware projects to improve the Chesapeake Bay

An effort to improve water front areas in three downstate Delaware towns should also make an impact further downstream.

All three towns in Sussex County are getting money from state and federal sources that will fund improvements of stream  banks and storm water run-off that should help keep more pollutants out of the Chesapeake Bay.  In Bethel and Laurel, $100,000 will be used to deal with storm water overflows that have caused flooding.  It will also help improve local parks.

Laurel Senator Robert Venables pushed for the state to help fund the project, even though the downstate communities may not have large populations like some communities in New Castle County.  “I realize the population down here is not like the population in Wilmington, but we put a lot of money up there, which I always vote for, but I figure we need to get some of it down here.  My position on the bond bill [committee] has been so that I’ve been able to get some money down here.” 

 In Greenwood, $35,000 will be used to reduce storm water runoff and improve wildlife habitat.  Delaware Congressman John Carney says the projects will have many benefits.  “It’s good for the water quality, and the aquatic life, the fish and the birds, and all of the animal life along the creek and into the river and onto the bay.  Obviously, the ultimate goal is to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, and this will be an important project to do that.”

The project is a cooperative effort among the towns, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Chesapeake Bay Program , as well as the EPA and the State Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Environmental Control.