Molly Murray and Jeff Montgomery

Gov. Jack Markell predicted his new $800 million water-improvement plan, funded in part by a new tax on property owners, would receive a mixed reaction.

"There's not going to be any opposition at all to cleaning up our water, but no one wants to pay for it," he said in a recent interview.

Turns out, he was partly right.

Rich Collins, executive director of the Sussex County-based Positive Growth Alliance, speculated that Markell's proposed tax, along with the governor's earlier proposal of a 10-cent a gallon gas tax increase, stand little chance of passing this election year. But this may be a way to get the ideas out there for 2015.

"People had better hold on to their wallets next year," he said.

Collins said worries that the water tax would take money from residents in Sussex County, "which is lacking in prosperity, and send it to New Castle County" to address the toxic issues there.

Delaware residents already are coping with the added expense and burden of new state septic and storm water regulations, he said.

State lawmakers had only a sketchy idea of what the water plan would look like before it was announced Tuesday.

House Speaker Peter C. Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, said the water proposal may stand a better chance than the gas tax increase because water issues impact so many state residents.

"Every time we have a rain, every legislator in this state gets calls about stormwater runoff," he said. "The roads aren't the problem right now."

Schwartzkopf said residents in his district might be more willing to accept a water tax because Sussex County has no stormwater ordinance.

Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, said she's grateful for Markell's proposal. Peterson's district includes the community of Glenville, where tropical storm flooding in 2003 largely destroyed more than 160 homes, prompting state and county officials to put together a $33 million flood control plan that included a $23 million homeowner buyout.

"Ever since the Glenville flood, I've been trying to find a way to address the issue of flooding in our communities, much of which is caused by creeks and streams that have been neglected because there is no fund to maintain them," Peterson said.

"While this proposal focuses primarily on cleaning up our water, it also provides for flood mitigation funding, which is long overdue," Peterson said. "This is a huge step in the right direction and certainly an answer to my prayers."

Senate Minority Leader F. Gary Simpson, R-Milford, said he'd been hearing for months that a water proposal was coming, but on Tuesday he had yet to see the details.

"I think it's a bad time," he said. Along with the proposed gas tax, "it's just the wrong approach to growing government."

Not all the reaction was guarded or negative.

In Annapolis, Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker emailed his support for the proposal.

"We commend Gov. Markell for his groundbreaking and innovative strategy to finance clean water," Baker wrote. "Over one third of Delaware is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. So the Chesapeake will benefit, Delaware Bay will benefit, and all of the rivers, streams, and drinking water supplies in Delaware will be improved. Governor Markell's announcement today clearly demonstrates his leadership, and his action provides a model for other leaders to emulate"

Delaware Nature Society Executive Director Brian Winslow said the governor's plan is an important step.

"We know where the problems are and we have the connections with community to work with them, our partner organizations, and the state to go to the next step," he said.

And Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, said she looks forward to seeing the specifics of the plan. "It certainly seems that he is positioning Delaware as a leader in securing the many irreplaceable benefits our rivers, streams, and wetlands provide," van Rossum said.

In Wilmington, City Council member Hanifa Shabazz said the plan offers hope to residents in the city's Southbridge community just west of the Port of Wilmington and the point where the tidal Christina River empties into the Delaware River.

Flooding, especially at high tides and during heavy rainfalls, is a fact of life in much of the neighborhood, with sirens sounded to warn of pending high water, and buses used to evacuate some residents. A project already is planned to rework contaminated land just west of Southbridge to create a wetland where high water would go first, cutting the frequency of floods.

"Its very hard to go back and tell constituents that, yes, we do understand what needs to be done, but it's going to take five or seven years" said Shabazz, who sent Markell urgent, personal text messages and cell phone pictures during a particularly bad flooding episode in December 2012.

"This could get it done much faster, and create a better quality of life in South Wilmington."

Dover City Council President David Bonar said the state's proposal was "needed and long overdue." Flooding has troubled residents and businesses in parts of the state's capital for decades, he said.

Recent storms have produced a series of deep backups near Bayhealth, jeopardizing a hospital generator at one point, a county sewage pumping station near Legislative Hall at another, and ruining dozens of cars.

"We need to have the backbone to stand up and say we need to do it now," Bonar said.

As with Southbridge, DNREC has indicated that solutions to the hospital-area flooding could include cleanup of a former city landfill that is now leaking pollution into the St. Jones River.

Jeffrey W. Bross, vice-chairman of Delaware's Water Infrastructure Advisory Council, called Markell's "well thought out."

"It's balanced, I don't think it's overdone" said Bross, who chairs Duffield Associates, a regional engineering company. "I think the governor has asked for what we really think we need, not a a penny more. I think we're still going to have financial challenges, but it's a good start.

"This is still probably a 10 to 15 years proposition to really get to where we need to be. But if you don't start, you'll never get there," Bross said.

Contact Jeff Montgomery at (302) 463-3344 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com and Molly Murray at 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com