Wastewater Treatment

More than $7.1 million in revenue has been collected this year from 175 owners of wastewater treatment facilities as part of the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announced today. "The revenue from this historic effort is enabling us to make future generations proud to call Maryland home of the Chesapeake Bay," Ehrlich said in a statement. "I applaud Comptroller Schaefer and the state comptroller office's work with the Maryland Department of the Environment for getting this program up and running so quickly."

With a 400-seat addition scheduled to open at rural Glenelg High School in less than two years and a new middle school nearby to follow, Howard County school officials thought building a small wastewater treatment plant for both would be routine.It has proved to be anything but.The $2 million project proposed on a wooded acre behind nearby Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School in the western county has provoked a howl of outrage from nearby residents who, afraid of problems such as well contamination and lower property values, claim they weren't informed.

The state Board of Public Works approved two $100,000 grants yesterday to upgrade wastewater treatment facilities in Westminster and Mount Airy.The money will be used to install biological nutrient removal systems at the two plants, and to increase the wastewater treatment capacity at the Mount Airy facility from 600,000 to 950,000 gallons a day, state officials said.The nutrient removal projects will help the state meet its goal of achieving a 40 percent reduction in nutrients discharged into the Chesapeake Bay by 2000, Gov. Parris N. Glendening said in a statement.

The state Board of Public Works approved more than $1 million in grants yesterday for projects in Harford and Cecil counties that will improve water quality and supply in both jurisdictions, officials said. Harford will receive $490,000 to augment wastewater treatment in an area of Joppa where private septic systems are failing and causing public health and safety risks. Extending public lines into the Oaklyn Manor area at the southern end of the county will provide for better treatment and reduce nutrient pollution, officials said.

The Bay Restoration Fee, more commonly known as the "flush tax," does more than help clean up the Chesapeake Bay ("O'Malley grilled on green agenda," Feb.15). This money is used to update Maryland's wastewater and sewage treatment plants. Maryland's drinking water is put at risk when wastewater is leaked from outdated pipes and systems into our waterways. The flush tax is used to fix these leaking pipes and upgrade a system that is decades old. The sliding tax that is proposed in Gov.Martin O'Malley's legislation will help to promote water conservation.

The state Board of Public Works awarded Westminster a $925,000 grant yesterday to upgrade the city's wastewater treatment plant.The funds will be disbursed by the Maryland Department of the Environment to help pay for a new wastewater tank, called a clarifier, and for modifications to the city's existing tanks, said Quentin Banks, spokesman for the agency.The new technology will remove biological nutrients from the 5 million gallons of sewage treated there daily, using microbes to convert nitrogen in the water to an inert gas. Work on the upgrade is scheduled to begin this fall.

Unfounded fears on treatment plant I attended the initial public hearing concerning the expansion of Glenelg High and the wastewater plant. The opponents have not changed their reasons for opposing the plan. The only thing they have done is hire ... lawyer Allen Dyer to present their case. The general argument voiced by the opponents is filled with unfounded speculations and fears, supported with "what ifs." They have no meaningful data to support what they consider a legal opposition.

Villa Julie College's expansion plans suffered a setback this week when a Baltimore County Circuit Court judge ruled that the Board of Appeals should have allowed opponents to introduce evidence about the impact of the school's proposed wastewater treatment plant.Judge Barbara Kerr Howe ordered the board to set a new hearing on the issue of the treatment plant.Last July the board upheld an zoning exception allowing the Greenspring Valley school to expand. However, it also affirmed the zoning commissioner's limitations on expansion, which would allow a maximum of 2,500 students over a five-year period, as well as his decision to limit wastewater discharges from the new plant to 50,000 gallons a day.During its hearing, the board granted a motion by the college to exclude testimony about the environmental impact of the treatment plant's discharge into a stream that cuts across adjoining property.

The commissioners amended the county's water and sewerage master plan yesterday to include the disposal of sewage from Francis Scott Key High School, a necessary step for state approval to operate the school's treatment plant. The amendment outlines plans to use the $786,000 wastewater treatment plant - which was built in 1998 without the required construction and environmental permits - and discharge the treated waste onto a wetland on an adjoining property or release it directly into a nearby stream.

The Howard County school system is one step closer to building the much-needed 400-seat addition at Glenelg High School. The Maryland Department of the Environment informed school officials last week that it has decided to issue a permit for the high school's proposed wastewater treatment facility that will accommodate the addition - despite concerns of a few residents over possible contamination of drinking water in western Howard County. "The permit is fully protective of public health and state groundwater quality standards," MDE stated in a notice of final determination.