DAGSBORO — Operation of Millsboro’s newest water tower looms as a linchpin to an agreement sought by Artesian Water Company linking neighboring towns of Dagsboro and Frankford.

At its Jan. 25 meeting held virtually, Dagsboro council deferred action on any agreement, pending legal review and language modification tied to Millsboro’s request to delay the interconnection until its new water tower comes online.

“I think the goal is for that to be in operation by the summer,” said Millsboro Town Manager Sheldon Hudson. “Now, it may not be painted and all pretty, but as far as the interior of the tower being usable, the goal is the summer.”

The third water tower that will be located in town limits, Millsboro’s new 1,000,000-gallon water tower is under construction along the north side of Hardscrabble Road (Del. 20) west of US 113.

Dagsboro, which is locked in a 20-year agreement with Millsboro that is to provide Dagsboro water through December 2022, plans to tap into Artesian Water Company’s new regional system sometime this year.

Artesian’s Greater Dagsboro Water Treatment Plant, in the works on Armory Road is projected to be operational this spring, providing an additional supply of 2 million gallons per day to the region. It will serve the towns of Dagsboro and Frankford as well as other parts of southeastern Sussex County, according to John Thaeder, senior vice president for Artesian Resources Corporation & Subsidiaries.

The scenario involves two interconnections. One is between Millsboro and Dagsboro. The second is with Dagsboro and Frankford.

With Artesian the water source, Dagsboro would pay for Artesian water coming into the town, while Artesian would pay Dagsboro for water leaving Dagsboro through Dagsboro’s infrastructure to serve Frankford. A modern interconnection between Dagsboro and Frankford is under consideration to replace a somewhat antiquated valve system, according to Dagsboro Town Manager Cindi Brought.

“The main concern right now for Artesian is the construction of a new connection between Dagsboro/Frankford,” said Ms. Brought following council’s Jan. 25 meeting.

“What we are requesting … is for the interconnection to be approved with the date of actually activating it and starting it up to flow into town and the second interconnection to flow into Frankford,” Mr. Thaeder said. “As long as we are able to put the infrastructure in, if you don’t want us to actually activate the interconnection until July or August or September, that is really a decision the town of Dagsboro is making from a monetary standpoint.”

Mr. Thaeder said Artesian has no serious objection to Millsboro’s request.

“We would not object to that. What we would have a problem with is if for some reason that would disrupt us from being able to tie our system into the south and run the water out of Dagsboro through our own main,” Mr. Thaeder said. “Again, if people didn’t want the flowing of water to move until later in the summer, that really isn’t a major concern to us.”

The interconnect agreement was targeted for some tweaking due to Councilman/Vice-Mayor William Chandler III and Dagsboro Town Solicitor Greg Morris wanting to include language regarding the time frame for Millsboro’s new water tower to be working and a few other items that may need to be included in the agreement prior to voting on and signing it, Ms. Brought said.

“I’m always a little hesitant to have an open-ended mutual agreement. I think we ought to pin it down a little bit,” said Mr. Morris.

“I have looked at the interconnect agreement, the second one, too, and I trust Mr. Morris on this. There are couple things however that I think we need to have a discussion about,” said Mr. Chandler said at the January council meeting.

Millsboro’s request for the delay stemmed from a Jan. 12 meeting attended by representatives from Millsboro, Dagsboro and Artesian.

“Once that is online, the town of Millsboro has less of an objection to Dagsboro moving forward,” said Mr. Hudson. “That is not to say we have no objection. But I think to be diplomatic I’d rather say less than of an objection because then we will have that additional storage capacity. But with all the growth in the town, we want to make sure we have as much of a cushion as possible, especially in those high-use months in the summer.

“At the end of the day. Millsboro just doesn’t want to be interconnected with Dagsboro if there is another source of supply on the system that would run automatically,” said Mr. Thaeder.

He explained there are three options for interconnection: manual, a one-way flow and a two-way interconnection where water could flow in either direction pending on pressure levels of the systems. The two-way interconnection is “a pretty complicated system” that could run $60,000 to $70,000, Mr. Thaeder said.

By 4-0 vote, Dagsboro council members Patrick Miller, Theresa Ulrich, Mr. Chandler and Mayor Brian Baull opted to defer the issue until council’s February meeting.

Last April, Artesian announced its acquisition of the town of Frankford’s somewhat antiquated water system at a price of $3.6 million.