Raw Sewage

A sewer main broke in Severn yesterday, spilling about 5,000 gallons of raw sewage onto the ground near Severn Run Natural Environment Area. The break was discovered about 9:30 a.m. by a plant operator at the Severn Run pumping station, at Burns Crossing and Old Mill roads on the edge of the environmental area that contains Severn Run. The spill was not major, but sewage might have seeped into the stream, said John Morris, a county spokesman. Effects of the spill should be minimal, said Richard McIntire, spokesman for the Maryland Department of the Environment.

City public works crews diverted more than 1.6 million gallons of raw sewage into the Jones Falls yesterday, as runoff from heavy rains overwhelmed an East Baltimore sewer line under repair. The incident - the fourth major spill in the city since July - began at about 8:15 a.m. when the normal morning surge of water use, plus the runoff, taxed the sewer line at North Broadway and East Oliver Street, officials said. The spill ended at 4:30 p.m., they said. George L. Winfield, Department of Public Works director, said the city has only two options when faced with situations such as what occurred: Let the sewage back up into homes, or divert it into local waterways.

The independent counsel sadly reports that his mandate to overturn the 1992 election will not be fulfilled. The Hilton, which has been an Omni, is now the Wyndham while the old Lord Baltimore is the new Hilton. That should clear that up. Someone sent 4.4 million gallons of raw sewage into the Jones Falls and no one noticed. If you cannot trust the state's top lobbyists, whom can you trust?

Baltimore city workers, who this month allowed more than 10 million gallons of sewage to spill into a bay tributary, dumped nearly 4.4 million gallons of raw sewage into the Jones Falls in July - another serious water pollution incident that city officials failed to report to the public. The Jones Falls spill July 26 stemmed from a blocked underground sewer pipeline in East Baltimore, according to city officials. The obstruction initially caused about 600,000 gallons of raw sewage to overflow into the street and into storm drains at Broadway and Oliver Street.

THE CITY of Baltimore paid a $1 million fine less than a year ago to settle years of pollution violations from its water and sewage treatment plants. The idea: Resolve costly lawsuits and give the city a fresh start in addressing repeated problems at the Ashburton and Patapsco plants. But when 10 million gallons of raw sewage gushed into Colgate Creek last weekend, city officials dismissed the massive pollution in typical fashion. No threat to drinking water, no environmental disaster, no need to notify the public, the familiar voices assured.

Baltimore officials spent yesterday scrambling to put together a written policy to prevent another communication breakdown like the one that allowed millions of gallons of raw sewage to spill from a city pumping station into a Chesapeake Bay tributary with no warning to the public. "The communication was not there," Kurt Kocher, spokesman for the Department of Public Works, said of the spill last weekend. "There are some errors that were made, and we're going to correct those errors." The new policy requires that the head of the Bureau of Water and Wastewater be told of a spill and that the bureau chief, in turn, inform the director of public works.

As Carroll County continues to truck raw sewage from Francis Scott Key High School, hopes for a functional wastewater treatment plant at the school received a boost yesterday. Maryland Department of the Environment officials have issued a draft of the permit the county would need to move the long-delayed and mishandled project forward. The county must review the draft, which establishes preliminary guidelines for releasing treated sewage into wetlands, and send it back to MDE. Then the community will have opportunities to comment before MDE makes a final decision.

Carroll officials will survey Bark Hill Road residents to determine whether they would allow the county to bury a pipeline across their properties to carry sewage from the illegally built wastewater treatment plant at Francis Scott Key High School to Union Bridge. Although county officials are making the proposal, they expect residents to oppose the idea of a pipeline carrying raw sewage or treated effluent beneath their front yards - a more than $1 million project. Tensions in the case are high, with some Bark Hill residents plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the county Board of Education, demanding removal of the treatment plant.

After 24 years of sewage spilling into a city park, streets and homes of Cambridge and the Choptank River, leaders of the local Episcopal church have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to force the city to stop the spills.Seeking "corrective action to preserve God's creation," the vestry of Christ Episcopal Church has joined forces with a local community group, accusing Cambridge officials of violating the Clean Water Act by allowing sewage spills to continue despite a 1993 pledge to solve the problem.

This time, Taneytown's sewer system will be fixed properly, Mayor W. Robert Flickinger pledges.The city, which was visited yesterday by commercial real estate agents touring Carroll industrial sites, is eager to attract industry. But it faces possible restrictions on new sewer connections because its aging, leaking system has caused a series of backups, sending raw sewage into 15 houses and one business.The backups, after heavy snow and rain in January and February and more rain in July, prompted one frustrated West Baltimore Street resident to post a sign in her front yard saying, "Welcome to sewer site, ."