Another Day, Another 2 Million Gallons of Shit

Another 2 million gallons of sewage released into the Jones Falls

Heavy rains washed 2.3 million gallons of diluted sewage into the Jones Falls Sunday, the city’s latest release of human waste from its inadequate sewer system.

The two overflows occurred underground between 6 and 11 p.m., with 161,000 gallons released at 1901 Falls Road and 2.3 million gallons released at 401 East Preston Street, according to the Department of Public Works.

These so-called “structured overflows” are the result of pipes designed to relieve pressure when rainfall infiltrates sewer mains and threatens to overwhelm the system, causing basement back-ups.

Heavy rains last summer sent millions of gallons of sewage into city waterways and, ultimately, the Inner Harbor and Chesapeake Bay.

In violation of the Clean Water Act, the city has promised to end the overflows under a federal consent decree, which was renegotiated after DPW failed to meet its 2015 deadline.

The city now is on pace to complete Phase I of the agreement, which calls for sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) to be eliminated by January 1, 2021, DPW director Rudy Chow said at a public meeting last month.

Roughly $1 billion of upgrades are underway, aimed at increasing the system’s capacity and bringing Baltimore into compliance with the decree.

And when the money is misspent, and the problem isn't fixed by 2021, who goes to jail? Nobody; which is why it will likely happen.