Sewage

FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- One of the worst raw-sewage spills in state history closed beaches in three counties yesterday, forcing people from waterways and contaminating one of the nation's most sensitive estuaries.Health officials warned people to stay out of the ocean in Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties and out of the Indian River, and to avoid eating fish from the river until further notice.It will be weeks before authorities can determine the full effect of the spilling of 6 million to 7 million gallons of untreated sewage, scientists and health officials say. They have begun testing water up and down the Treasure Coast near the spill site.

The Board of County Commissioners ordered yesterday a study of "environmentally friendly alternatives" for disposing of the sewage at Francis Scott Key High School.Advanced Systems, a New Windsor company that specializes in wastewater treatment systems, will conduct the study with assistance from the University of Maryland Extension Service.The study is expected to cost $4,490 and take about two weeks, county Public Works Director J. Michael Evans told the commissioners yesterday.The examination will assess the feasibility and cost of treating the liquid residue in the school's sewage with a process that kills the bacteria, allowing treated water to be used for irrigation.

A report detailing an environmentally safe way to dispose of sewage at Francis Scott Key High School is due Friday to the Carroll County commissioners, who are concerned about the costs of waste disposal there.County public works Director J. Michael Evans told the commissioners yesterday that the $4,500 report will conclude whether a bacteria-killing, environmentally safe method of disposing sewage at the school is a feasible alternative.The commissioners are expected to consider the report and cost estimates of the plan next week.

A 30-foot wide hole filled with sewage in an Odenton man's yard could pose a threat to area aquatic life and well water, county health officials said yesterday.The cesspit, discovered during a drug raid on the home of Joseph Bogdanowicz in the 1500 block of Grays Ford Road, was less than 10 yards from a tributary of the Patuxent River, county police said -- close enough to allow harmful bacteria to seep into the stream.If the sewage is less than 100 feet from a well, the bacteria could seep into drinking water, said John Simpson, wells program manger for the county health department.

TALK ABOUT adding insult to injury: Some Taneytown residents whose homes and businesses were flooded with backed-up sewage from the leaking, over-capacity municipal sewer system now find the assessed value of their properties going up, not down.Meanwhile, the northwest Carroll County town is discovering more and more leaks in the sewer lines through on-going remote-operated video camera probes. Repairs to failing pipes are still lagging and construction of a larger, 1.1 million-gallon sewage treatment plant remains years away.

WHEN IT RAINS, it pours, as we all know in soggy Central Maryland. So it should come as no surprise that Taneytown is no exception to the rule.Heavy rains this year have repeatedly exposed a long-neglected problem with Taneytown's antiquated, over-burdened, leaking sewer system that has flooded basements of homes with untreated wastewater and disgorged raw sewage into the streets.The state Department of the Environment has ordered Taneytown to upgrade its inadequate sewage treatment plant, stop releasing sewage into streets during storms and develop an emergency overflow plan.

The County Commissioners have unanimously agreed to ask state environmental officials for a $200,000 grant that would help Lineboro residents develop a sewage-treatment system.In signing yesterday's letter of request presented by the Lineboro Environmental Wastewater Treatment Association (LEWTA), the commissioners praised the group's initiative in planning to reduce costs by doing most of the planning and some of the labor itself.The state's grant is available through the Maryland Small Towns Environmental Program, a volunteer self-help program.

County officials are hoping a controversy over an innovative public septic system in the Clearview neighborhood of Edgewood has been resolved so that they can begin assessing participating households $238 a year for the service.The septic system, which was installed more than three years ago at the request of the community, was paid for in part by federal and state grants. The county paid the balance -- $102,730 -- and was to be repaid by participating property owners over 25 years, beginning in January 1994.

The Baltimore public works department intentionally pumped more than 1 million gallons of raw sewage into the Baltimore Harbor near the Pier Six Pavilion yesterday afternoon to prevent it from flooding into nearby homes as workers scrambled for two hours to restore power to electrical pumps at the city's Eastern Avenue sewage plant.City and state officials said the release of the sewage, first into the Jones Falls channel on the plant's western edge, and subsequently into the harbor, posed only minor health risks for people and wildlife.

LIFE'S A BEACH and then you die. Such is the popular surfing saying. Its implications are holding truer than ever from Malibu to Monterey.The waters along the Pacific beaches are being contaminated by sewage -- up to alarming levels of 60 percent of the beaches contain unacceptable levels of sewage in the water. What's a surfer to do?An entire group of wave-worshipers have gone the eco-surfer route. The goal of the 17,000 members in the environmentally-correct Surfrider Foundation is to act as a citizens watch group for water pollutants.

State health officials closed portions of the Patapsco River in Carroll County to fishing and other recreational uses yesterday after more than 10,000 gallons of untreated sewage overflowed into a drain near the Carroll-Howard border. A contractor's backhoe struck a sewer main in Sykesville at 10:15 a.m., rupturing the pipe and sending the sewage into a drain that leads to the river. The rupture occurred along Sandusky Road near College Avenue, where pipes were being installed to connect water mains in the area.

An estimated 40,000 gallons of sewage overflowed from a broken line in Timonium before it was repaired late Sunday, according to county officials. The break in the 12-inch sewer line beneath East Padonia Road, between Quiet Stream Court and Sunnylake Place, was detected about 9 a.m. Sunday and was repaired by that night, according to Baltimore County officials. The county's Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management has posted signs advising residents to avoid contact with the waters of Merryman Branch, a tributary of Loch Raven Reservoir.

Baltimore County officials agreed yesterday to repair damage done by public works contractors to an Essex home that has been the site of repeated sewage-related problems. The latest damage -- discovered earlier this week -- was to a temporary fix installed after public works contractors accidentally destroyed the home's septic system. Since beginning work in April 2006 to install a 54-inch pressurized sewer line from the Stemmers Run pumping station to the Back River Treatment Plant, contractors have bulldozed a swimming pool and outdoor brick grill at the home on Oriole Avenue.

Anne Arundel : Piney Orchard Sewage spills into waterway The Anne Arundel County Health Department urged residents yesterday to avoid direct contact with a Piney Orchard waterway after 60,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled from a nearby manhole. The overflow, reported at 9 p.m. Thursday, sent about 1,000 gallons of sewage into Rogue Harbor Branch, located near the near the Little Patuxent River. The Maryland Environmental Service traced the problem to a power outage at the Piney Orchard Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Arundel decides not to buy treatment plant Anne Arundel County will take a pass on buying the Piney Orchard sewage treatment plant, allowing a developer to pursue his plan to build 1,600 homes near Fort Meade, County Executive John R. Leopold said yesterday. While a deal brokered this week by John C. Stamato gave the county the right of first refusal to purchase the wastewater plant from Constellation Energy, Anne Arundel has enough sewage capacity in that area and upgrading the plant would be too costly, Leopold said.

Army withdraws Ft. Meade sewage incinerator plan Facing a groundswell of opposition, Army officials announced last night that they are withdrawing plans to build a sewage sludge incinerator at Fort Meade. "It's Fort Meade's intention to terminate the project because it no longer makes good business sense," said Clyde Reynolds, public works director at the Army post. Fort Meade issued a news release stating its intention at a public hearing on the project held by the Maryland Department of the Environment.

A contractor digging up an old sewer line in Northeast Baltimore yesterday caused a sewage overflow that the city's Department of Public Works estimated at 15 to 20 gallons a minute. Efforts to stop the spill near the 5200 block of Goodnow Road were continuing yesterday afternoon. Officials said rough terrain was hampering their work. The city said in a statement that a new sewer line is being installed. The old line will be bypassed and cemented shut. Signs are being posted, and residents are urged to avoid contact with Biddison Run, which runs through the Eastern Sanitation Yard.

CENTREVILLE -- A Queen Anne's County grand jury has concluded that an aging sewage treatment plant here was grossly mismanaged for years but found no evidence of criminal wrong- doing. In its report, the jury criticized the Maryland Department of the Environment for relying too heavily on self-reporting by town employees of sewage discharges. The panel outlined a half-dozen recommendations for increasing scrutiny on small municipal plants, including hiring more inspectors and stepping up random and unannounced inspections.

Sympathies go out to residents of Baltimore's central city communities who will spend the next year or so with their streets torn up to install a new sewer line. As The Sun's John Fritze reported Sunday, neighbors from Hampden to East Baltimore worry that the project will be noisy, disruptive, damaging to their property and so disturbing to subterranean life that rats will be scurrying through their yards. Some are skeptical of the project's value, and of city promises to finish it as swiftly as possible.

A crew working to upgrade aging Baltimore sewer lines accidentally ruptured a pipe Sunday night, causing a leak of at least 10,000 gallons of sewage into the Jones Falls. The overflow occurred in the 3400 block of Clipper Mill Road after a 27-inch line was ruptured during work on a $900 million rehabilitation of the city's sewer lines. Officials identified the source of the spill about 10 a.m. yesterday. "It's somewhat ironic," said Kurt L. Kocher, a spokesman for Baltimore's Department of Public Works.