Pipe Break Releases 17 Million Gallons of Sewage a Day into Bay Tributary

A break in a 54-inch sewage line inside a Baltimore area sewage pumping plant on Sunday is releasing 17 million gallons of sewage a day into the Patapsco River, with the pollution flow, including bacteria and excess nitrogen, expected to continue until the rupture can be fixed on Thursday.

As a result of the problems at the Patapsco Pumping Station at 4612 Annapolis Road, Baltimore and Anne Arundel County officials are warning people to avoid all contact with the Chesapeake Bay tributary, from Hammonds Ferry Road to the Middle Branch.

“The Department of Health has posted emergency closing signs along the section of the Patapsco River, and the closure will remain in effect until further notice,” the Anne Arundel County Health Department advised.  “People coming in contact with the affected water are advised to wash well with soap and warm water immediately. Clothing should also be washed.”

Because of the ongoing spill, today (on March 28), the Maryland Department of the Environment closed shellfish harvesting in the Patapsco River and part of the adjacent Chesapeake Bay. "Shellfish are filter feeders with the ability to filter water and get food from microscopic organisms in the water," MDE wrote in an announcement about the closure. "If the waters are polluted, this filtering process can concentrate disease-causing organisms associated with raw sewage and other sources, such as animal waste."

For more information, click here or here.

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation 

(Note: Photo of health warning at top is not from this sewage spill. The picture, taken by author, is of the Herring Run stream in Baltimore after a sewage leak)

 

 

 

Comments

[Mark Takacs]

CBF should be happy to have supported the Govenor on his septic ban bill.....now after this bill passes maybe the next time the pipe breaks it will be 20 millions gallons a day!
What do you think?

[Tom Pelton]

You seem to be suggesting that septic systems are somehow better than sewage treatment plants, because septic systems don't break. A) Septic systems do break and leak, and; B)sewage treatment plants do a much better job of removing pollutants -- even if you take unfortunate incidents like the one described above.

[Mark Takacs]

There is a much bigger issue than removing pollutants but those broken pipes losing 17 million gallons arent removing anything. A septic system will never cause that much of an overflow on its worst days.
But lets look at some other issues:
Septics recharge the groundwater.
Septics need alot of space so they spread people out...less people equals less impervious surfaces which equals less pollution.
Septics need separations from the groundwater so sensitive properties like wetlands are better preserved as they cant be built on like with sewer.

The bottom line no water, waste, or nutrient should leave your property.

People are mis-informed about septics but considering it is only 7% of the problem and it is getting this much attention tells us something.

[plumbing]

This problem also happens in our country. Our seas is is contaminated by water form septic or sewage tanks.

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People coming in contact with the affected water are advised to wash well with soap and warm water immediately. Clothing should also be washed.

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