DNREC begins a statewide assessment of wastewater infrastructure in manufactured home communities.
DNREC’s Division of Water is utilizing a contracted partner, Verdantas to survey existing infrastructure in Manufactured Home Communities, or MHCs, to understand the condition of systems in these areas.
DNREC says it’s identified 170 MHCs across the First State, and 98 are known to handle their water on-site, using septic tanks and well water.
Division of Water Director Steven Smailer says DNREC believes many of those systems are in disrepair and the surveys will update their knowledge base.
“Also, critically, start facilitating some of the communications with ‘hey, you can talk to this agency for technical assistance if you need help.’ or ‘Here’s a couple operators that know how to operate a wastewater system like yours’ or ‘hey, here’s some resources about where you can get your water tested’ and some other pieces.” he says.
Smailer compares wastewater repairs to automobile maintenance; keeping it in working shape costs money and work on a regular basis. He acknowledges that not all of the communities they've identified have the resources to keep their system in working order.
And, he adds, even vehicles that undergo regular maintenance still wear out over time,
"If you don't properly maintain it, it wears out faster. So just by normal circumstances, as systems age, they have problems. Some of these systems pre-date our permitting records, it's a regular occurrence to have [various] issues" he says.
Smailer says before this project, DNRECs knowledge of MHC wastewater issues came only on an “as-reported” basis.
“That's what's unique about this project, because we’ve been doing pieces of this over the years, but we don’t really know the universe of issues that are out there. So getting a base line assessment across the state is really us catching up to the state of knowledge now, as opposed to a bunch of one-offs” he said.
The project started in late 2025 and is funded by U.S. EPA grants and money from the State Revolving Fund. Smailer says overall costs are somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000.
Field teams are expected to survey communities for the next several weeks with DNREC communicating with communities when they plan to visit, says Smailer.
"It's really going to come down to: how much data do they log? How much time to do they spend at each one of these facilities? If they start seeing more that they can actually identify and map, that's going to take a longer time than if they come into a community that has a bunch of stuff we've already documented" he said.
DNREC also says that the surveys will be done with notice well in advance, and that surveyors will have proper identification, so people know who's on their property at any given time.
"We have very explicitly worked with the property owners and the homeowner organizations to get the knowledge out in these communities... so that it's not a surprise when you see people there" he said. "More importantly, the people and the property owners are part of the knowledge base that we're trying to gain the information from"
Those wanting to speak with DNREC about the project, including questions on if they'll be whose properties they'll be visiting, can fill out a point of contact form on the DNREC Wastewater Conditions Assessment webpage.
