Septic Tanks

A mixed record on energy, climate The Baltimore Sun's summaries of the 2009 legislative session contained some glaring omissions on energy and the environment ("ID measure driven home," April 14, and "A session of mixed results," April 12). One of Gov. Martin O'Malley's top environmental priorities this year was passing a landmark global warming bill. But The Sun's wrap-ups paid little attention to the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act, which passed with strong majorities in both chambers and will require statewide reductions in carbon emissions of 25 percent from 2006 levels by 2020.

Thomas Taro almost caresses the 16.9-ounce plastic bottle of Natural Spring Water, then a faraway look slowly creeps across his face. "If it gets above 10, I'll be out of business," he said. By "it" Taro means nitrates. And by "10" he means milligrams per liter - the maximum permitted by the government for drinking water. His concern is understandable because he operates Brick House Farm Water Co., which draws 47 million gallons of bottled spring water annually for customers from his 98-acre farm.

The Harney Volunteer Fire Company's only source of water to fight fires has become contaminated with raw sewage that probably leaked from a neighboring septic system, Carroll County officials said yesterday. Volunteers detected an odor and discovered raw sewage on the ground around the quarter-acre pond that is about 7 feet deep, said Harney Fire Chief Donald Yingling Sr. Until the source of the problem was discovered, the company had little choice but to fill their equipment from the hydrant at the pond.

The centerpiece of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s environmental program appears to be in danger of collapse over the inclusion of a $2.50 fee that would be levied on about 420,000 septic tank users. Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, chairwoman of the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, said that after promoting the "flush tax" legislation for months, the administration has retracted its support, leaving her with a bill Republicans won't support. Early in the session, Hollinger, a Democrat, warned that if Republicans failed to vote for the septic fees, she would table the bill or, in the parlance of the State House, "drop it in the drawer."

MARYLAND'S natural resources secretary has declared it's time to fish or cut bait on cleaning up Chesapeake Bay. Ron Franks used bureaucratic language when he spoke Saturday to citizens and environmental officials who have labored for years on detailed, science-based plans to restore the bay by the end of the decade. "We have reached the point where implementation stands before us," he said. In other words, no more excuses. On one level, you had to feel gratified. We know all sources of bay pollution, how to reduce each (and by how much)

After what officials called a positive meeting with residents of Union Mills and Silver Run, Carroll County will undertake a preliminary study to determine whether the area needs a public sewer system. In both communities north of Westminster, failing septic tanks have created problems, said Ed Singer, director of the county Health Department's environmental health division. Many septic tanks and treatment systems in the two communities are older, on smaller lots and difficult to repair, he said.

Five years after building a wastewater treatment plant at a Union Bridge high school without any environmental or construction permits, the Carroll County school system installed a septic holding tank last week at North Carroll Middle School without the required septic and building permits. The tank was installed Jan. 19 as crews prepared bathrooms for a mini-campus of portable classrooms that will serve as "swing space" at North Carroll Middle, which will be emptied one wing at a time over the next 19 months in a major, $18.2 million renovation.

CONSIDER the sewer, America's true melting pot: the most democratic of forums, where the lifestyles of privileged and pauper, founding families and recent immigrants, liberal and conservative mingle without favor or distinction. To the Chesapeake Bay, which ultimately receives the whoosh and gurgle of about 16 million residents across its six-state watershed, a flush is a flush is a flush. At pipe's end, we all are family. But alas, even here is a growing gap between haves and have-nots.

UNFAIR. That's the word that came to mind this week, reading how federal and state environmental agencies are demanding Baltimore spend $900 million during the next decade to fix its creaky, leaky sewer system. Not unfair to Baltimore, mind you, whose residents pay among the lowest sewer bills on the East Coast. Without this long-overdue crackdown, the city would keep polluting the Chesapeake Bay with overflows of raw sewage. Besides, the city can spread the cleanup costs among more affluent metro counties that are hooked into the city's treatment plants.

Miami Beach Park's swimming area will remain closed until at least July 23, while Baltimore County environmental inspectors continue searching for the source of a water-borne bacterial contaminant.Results of the search -- begun July 9 -- were expected early this week, said Ian Forrest, bureau chief for the county's Waste Management and Community Service. But inspectors, he said, have had difficulty reaching the owners of nearby septic tanks -- a possible source of the fecal coliform contamination.