When Baltimore County wrestled recently with the cleanup of raw sewage spills that polluted two waterways within a week, county officials called the overflows "isolated" incidents.
But a state report on sewage systems and figures on spills supplied by the county contradict that.
In all, there were 102 spills in the past five years, according to county figures. The 5.2 million gallons of sewage spilled in the two recent instances -- the first at Gunpowder Falls on April 28, the second at School House Cove and Bear Creek on May 5 -- nearly equaled the county's annual average of 6 million gallons for the past five years, according to the county.
The state report, delivered in December to the Maryland General Assembly by a panel appointed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening, ranked Baltimore City second and Baltimore County third in the number of sewage system overflows for 2000, the year studied. The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which serves Prince George's and Montgomery counties, was first.
The cost to stop these spills is enormous.
Upkeep and repair of sewage systems in Maryland during the next 20 years is expected to cost $4.3 billion, the report said. That money would be used to prevent the pollution of Maryland waterways, which absorbed 52 million gallons of raw sewage in 2000.
Experts blame the spills mainly on aging, poorly designed sewage pipes or systems that haven't kept up with growing populations.
"The reason we're doing this [report] is because we haven't addressed water infrastructure for decades, and we're paying the price now," said Andrew Fellows, Chesapeake program manager for Clean Water Action Inc., and one of the 13 members of the Governor's Task Force for Upgrading Sewage Systems. The panel is composed of government officials and environmentalists.
Baltimore County will need to spend $400 million to upgrade its sewage system, including $197.4 million to make repairs to reduce overflows. Another $203 million will be needed to meet the demands of the county's increasing population.
"The Baltimore County spills showed that this is not just a city problem," Fellows said. "It's all over."
In Anne Arundel County, the estimated cost of upgrading the sewage system is $308 million, according to the report, which will be used by the General Assembly to assess sewage projects in Maryland.
