To such well-known threats to the health of the Chesapeake Bay as nitrogen from farm fertilizers and runoff brought on by suburban sprawl, add a less-obvious danger: bacon grease.
Homeowners who dump fat down the kitchen drain account for a growing share of sewage system overflows throughout Maryland. Most are minor, but grease buildup in a sewer line was blamed for a spill of more than a half-million gallons into woods next to the Patuxent River in Howard County this year.
Yesterday, officials gathered on the banks of the Little Patuxent in Ellicott City's Centennial Park to call on cooks to be more careful.
"We have all these major bay restoration efforts under way, but we're not going to get to the goal without all these small everyday actions that have a cumulative impact," said Shari T. Wilson, secretary of the state Department of the Environment.
As the state, for example, looks for ways to improve the effect of the sewage treatment plants in the region that handle 95 percent of the treated water that flows into the bay, officials say keeping grease out of drains in households and restaurants can play an important role.
"We get the question all the time: 'What can I do to make a difference?'" Wilson said. "Every little bit counts."
Local governments across the country also face the grease dilemma, said Linda Kelly, communications director for the Water Environment Federation. The nonprofit organization, based in Alexandria, Va., provides information and education to water quality professionals and works with about 16,000 municipal utilities nationwide.
"Fats, oils and grease is one of the topics we spend a lot of time on," Kelly said.
In many cases, sewage spills, especially major ones, happen quickly, the result of heavy rain flooding the lines, debris causing blockages, or power failures to pumps.
But backups caused by grease occur over time, officials said. When poured down the sink, grease can stick to household and sewer pipes. Eventually, it can build up and block the pipe.
In the first three months of this year, about half of the 200 sewer line overflows reported across Maryland were caused by grease, state officials said yesterday. That was the case with the large overflow in Howard County that was discovered on a Friday evening in January heading into a holiday weekend. After 22 hours of overflow, about 575,000 gallons had spilled into woods near the Patuxent River in North Laurel.
