Ellendale residents will soon have access to clean drinking water after decades of dealing with contaminated well water.
Many residents have relied on local churches and daycares for clean water, filling water jugs from spigots to use for drinking, bathing and laundry.
Two previous referendums to create a water district in the town failed to get enough votes for approval. Sussex County Engineer Hans Medlarz says the referendum targeting an area near the Old State Road corridor was the one that passed last year.
“The decision is still always the individuals. ‘Do I have a significant enough problem for me to warrant to have to pay a water bill?’ So people have, in the past, probably made the decision saying ‘no my individual problem is not significant enough,’” said Medlarz.
Matt Hartigan is Deputy Director of the Delaware Public Service Commission. He says that the county then approached the commision for permission to serve the district in May.
“The commision has to approve something called a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, or a CPCN, and that allows the utility to serve a specific geographic area,” said Hartigan.
Medlarz adds that with the approval of the CPCN for Ellendale and with funding from the state, they hope to have water services available to residents within 2 years.
“We will be purchasing water and we will be distributing clean drinking water to the customers in the newly created county water district,” he said.
Medlarz say Sussex County will purchase the water from the Artesian Water Company. The average Ellendale household will pay $430 per year for clean water.
