On April 25, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) staff spent a cool, damp morning planting native wetland plants at the NVF Wetland Project near Yorklyn, Delaware. Teams from the Division of Watershed Stewardship’s Delaware Wetlands group and the Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances Site Investigation and Remediation Section spent the day digging, planting, and mulching to provide ground cover, erosion resistance, and water filtration on the site.
This wetland is being installed at the former National Vulcanized Fiber (NVF) plant and is nearly complete. The wetland will serve as flood storage capacity as well as source removal of the zinc in the soil. Through the remediation process, the DNREC Division of Waste & Hazardous Substances removed 170 tons of zinc-contaminated soil, saving the groundwater, the Red Clay Creek, and about $14 million. In 2017, the NVF Yorklyn Project won a 2017 PISCES award from U.S. EPA for its excellence and innovation in Clean Water Infrastructure.
To learn more about the wetland installation project, please see DNREC’s video on the restoration.
