BALTIMORE — An unacceptable threat to the environment and public health.
That's how Maryland's Secretary of the Environment described Baltimore City's "Back river wastewater treatment plant," when announcing today that his agency would betaking over control.
Floating black chunks and discolored river water seen from a recent sample taken.
Secretary Ben Grumbles said the city failed to comply with a previous order to end illegal discharges of water pollution at the plant and the decline in proper maintenance and operation risks catastrophic failures that may result in environmental harm.
Back in January -- the Maryland Department of the Environment filed a lawsuit against the city seeking civil penalties and an order requiring the city to take all necessary steps for the back river and Patapsco treatment plants to come into compliance with the environmental law.
An inspection last Tuesday revealed conditions have worsened.
MDE issued an order giving the city 48 hours to demonstrate that it has come into compliance.
But on Saturday -- a follow-up inspection showed once again -- there are extensive violations.
Alice Volpitta, Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, Blue Water Baltimore:
"It’s about raw sewage entering local waterways and the back river is a thriving community of people who are using that river for fishing, for swimming, for boating, and so we’re talking about people coming into contact with partially treated sewage and that could make people sick and it really destroys their way of life."
The directive also calls for the Maryland environmental service to do a comprehensive assessment of the plant's operation, maintenance, staffing and equipment by June 6th.
Mayor Brandon Scott on Monday released the following statement in response.
"The Back River and Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plants have had issues that long predate my administration. We are committed to working with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and the Maryland Environmental Service (MES) to get both of these facilities into compliance. This will not be an overnight fix but we must work collaboratively and combine our resources in order to ensure clean and healthy communities not just for our residents, but also for the wildlife that calls the Chesapeake Bay home."
