Sewer Line

A troublesome 12-inch water main in Essex that broke Thursday at Back River Neck Road has been repaired and running water has been restored to the a small number of Essex residents and businesses who lost it, according to Baltimore public works officials. The main has broken several times since October, city and county officials said. Now, leaks in a sewer line below the water main that must be repaired before the road can be repaved, said county Public Works spokesman David Fidler.

A broken sewer line in Catonsville that went undetected for three weeks after the storm called Sandy passed through the area poured nearly 1.3 million gallons of raw waste into a tributary of the Patapsco River, Baltimore County officials reported Wednesday. County workers discovered the spill Tuesday on the grounds of Spring Grove Hospital Center after a neighboring resident complained about sewage odors to the Maryland Department of the Environment, which relayed the information, according to David Fidler, spokesman for the county's Department of Public Works.

A utility worker died in northeast Baltimore after he fell into a hole and became trapped Saturday afternoon, Baltimore City Fire Department officials said. The unidentified man in his late 20s was employed with a small, private utility company that was repairing a sewer line in the front yard of a home in the 1600 block of E. Cold Spring Lane, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, spokesman with the department. The man was attempting to climb out of the hole using a ladder when he fell back and became trapped in dirt up to his waist, Cartwright said.

In a city struggling to rebuild its population, construction cranes would seem to be a welcome sign. But office, shopping and housing projects in the works in Northwest Baltimore have some residents worried about the impact of development on a degraded stream that flows through their neighborhoods on its way to the harbor. Cranes tower over an 11-acre tract on Wabash Avenue, where the Social Security Administration plans to move 1,600 workers from the federal agency's aging downtown headquarters.

A broken sewer line has caused a sewage overflow in Herring Run Stream in Northeast Baltimore Wednesday, according to Department of Public Works officials. Crews said the sewer line break occurred Tuesday morning, near Belair Road and Parkside Drive in the Belair-Edison neighborhood. The leak was reported by a resident. DPW officials are reporting the leak rate at 5 to 8 gallons per minute and the total overflow is approaching 10,000 gallons total. Officials urge residents to avoid contact with city-wide streams.

Baltimore public works crews stopped an overflow from a clogged sewer line Wednesday morning that poured hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage into Herring Run in Northeast Baltimore. The problem stemmed from what was originally described as a room-sized carpet that was apparently stuffed down a manhole Monday night, resulting in a blockage in the sewer line and causing sewage to spill into Herring Run near Harford Road at Argonne Drive, city officials said. The item turned out to be a roll of heavy fabric, public works spokesman Kurt Kocher said Wednesday.

About 22,000 gallons of untreated sewage was dumped into the Jones Falls at 3300 Clipper Mill Road on Wednesday and early yesterday morning after a sewer line broke. The overflow came as the city's Department of Public Works works on a $900 million upgrade of the sewer system. In 2002, Baltimore officials signed a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate overflows. A city spokesman said the overflow occurred on a sewer line that is being replaced and was contained by 3:30 a.m. yesterday.

The residents say they each paid up to $13,000 extra to have their homes next to a heavily wooded stream valley, only to learn that a developer planned a major sewer line through the tall oaks, beeches and poplars.Now they are attempting to persuade the developer to reach a compromise with them, but they say he seems unwilling to do so, dismissing them as "no-growth" extremists.The residents of the Longmeadow community near Bel Air and the developer of the Wysong Branch sewer project talked for the first time Wednesday at a meeting also attended by Harford County Councilwoman Theresa M. Pierno, a Democrat representing District C."

County officials issued a stop work order on a sewer line at the future site of an upscale Towson development after discovering earlier this week that work was being done without a required grading permit. The sewer runs from the construction site of The Quarters, a $170 million condominium and apartment complex at the intersection of Dulaney Valley Road and Fairmount Avenue. A nearby resident alerted county officials after observing that a number of trees had been cut down Tuesday. After determining that a grading permit had not yet been issued, the county told the subcontractors to stop cutting down trees, said Tom Vidmar, the deputy director of the county's Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management.

Howard County is preparing to build a 10.5-mile, $66 million sewer line along the Little Patuxent River from Savage to Centennial Park. Design work for the line, which will parallel an existing gravity sewer line along the river, is under way, and county officials hope construction will begin next summer. The pipe's diameter will vary from 42 inches at the treatment plant, where the work will begin, to 27 inches at its northern terminus. The project is intended to provide sewer service in the eastern part of the county through the year 2035, including the redevelopment of central Columbia, said Wes Daub, project manager.

Gov. Martin O'Malley promised a push during the coming legislative session to curb proliferation of large housing developments served by septic systems, saying that increased pollution from septic systems is undermining state progress in protecting the Chesapeake Bay. Meeting with reporters Thursday, the governor took a defiant tone toward critics of his septic-control policies, which some have labeled part of a "war on rural Maryland. " O'Malley said that science is firmly on the side of those who want to control the growth of septic systems — typically used for large-lot developments in outer suburban and rural areas.

People should avoid direct contact with Beards Creek in Riva between Hoot Owl Road and Berkshire Drive, Anne Arundel health officials said Wednesday. A warning for the area is in effect until Jan. 4 because of a sewage spill that was caused by a blocked sewer line, according to a statement from the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. About 2,000 gallons of sewage spilled into the creek Wednesday. Warning signs have been posted and do not restrict boating, fishing or crabbing, the health department said.

A blockage in a 12-inch sewer main caused 1.16 million gallons of sewage to overflow into a tributary of Herring Run, according to a statement Wednesday by the Baltimore County Department of Public Works. The sewer line is in the Anneslie-Idlewylde area near the border of Baltimore and Baltimore County, DPW said. The overflow occurred Oct. 12 but was not discovered until Tuesday after an odor complaint was investigated, according to the statement. The line was cleared around 6 p.m. Tuesday.

— Residents of Kent Island are never far from the water. That's what drew many of them to the largest island in the Chesapeake Bay, where they're close to boating, fishing and all nature's bounty. But for the mostly tidy cottages, bungalows and other homes built decades ago on the southern end of this low-lying island, there's just one problem. Far from the nearest sewer line, they all rely on septic systems to dispose of their waste. Four out of five homes here are pumping water-fouling nitrogen into the bay every time they flush, Queen Anne's County health officials estimate.

Baltimore public works crews stopped an overflow from a clogged sewer line Wednesday morning that poured hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage into Herring Run in Northeast Baltimore. The problem stemmed from what was originally described as a room-sized carpet that was apparently stuffed down a manhole Monday night, resulting in a blockage in the sewer line and causing sewage to spill into Herring Run near Harford Road at Argonne Drive, city officials said. The item turned out to be a roll of heavy fabric, public works spokesman Kurt Kocher said Wednesday.

A broken sewer line has caused a sewage overflow in Herring Run Stream in Northeast Baltimore Wednesday, according to Department of Public Works officials. Crews said the sewer line break occurred Tuesday morning, near Belair Road and Parkside Drive in the Belair-Edison neighborhood. The leak was reported by a resident. DPW officials are reporting the leak rate at 5 to 8 gallons per minute and the total overflow is approaching 10,000 gallons total. Officials urge residents to avoid contact with city-wide streams.

Not far from Interstate 95 in White Marsh, near a sea of townhouses, American Indians hunted and fished about 4,000 years ago along Honeygo Run, according to a Baltimore archaeologist.Joseph W. Hopkins' survey of the banks of the Honeygo has uncovered dozens of quartz pieces and a pottery shard that he says are evidence American Indians once inhabited the rolling hills and fields.The finds -- which could delay the start of a $2.7 million sewer project -- are due for more study under a $47,362 contract up for County Council approval tonight.

— Residents of Kent Island are never far from the water. That's what drew many of them to the largest island in the Chesapeake Bay, where they're close to boating, fishing and all nature's bounty. But for the mostly tidy cottages, bungalows and other homes built decades ago on the southern end of this low-lying island, there's just one problem. Far from the nearest sewer line, they all rely on septic systems to dispose of their waste. Four out of five homes here are pumping water-fouling nitrogen into the bay every time they flush, Queen Anne's County health officials estimate.

A utility worker died in northeast Baltimore after he fell into a hole and became trapped Saturday afternoon, Baltimore City Fire Department officials said. The unidentified man in his late 20s was employed with a small, private utility company that was repairing a sewer line in the front yard of a home in the 1600 block of E. Cold Spring Lane, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, spokesman with the department. The man was attempting to climb out of the hole using a ladder when he fell back and became trapped in dirt up to his waist, Cartwright said.

A troublesome 12-inch water main in Essex that broke Thursday at Back River Neck Road has been repaired and running water has been restored to the a small number of Essex residents and businesses who lost it, according to Baltimore public works officials. The main has broken several times since October, city and county officials said. Now, leaks in a sewer line below the water main that must be repaired before the road can be repaved, said county Public Works spokesman David Fidler.