Forget It Jake, It's Baltimore

Bay Journal, Maryland files suit seeking cleanup of Baltimore’s troubled sewage plants

Just a few days after being accused of lax oversight of polluters, the Maryland Department of the Environment filed suit against the city of Baltimore that alleges numerous and ongoing discharge violations at the state’s two largest wastewater treatment plants.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 21 in Baltimore Circuit Court, seeks civil penalties and an injunction requiring the city to take “all steps necessary” to come into compliance with its state-issued permits. The Back River and Patapsco River plants together discharge about 250 million gallons of treated sewage daily into the rivers, both tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.

The state’s court filings charge the plants with exceeding discharge limits repeatedly, some as far back as 2017, for nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria and other pollutants. They also accuse the city of failing to report sampling results, failing to provide adequate operating staff and failing to run the plants efficiently or conduct needed maintenance.
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State action comes after water quality monitoring last spring by Blue Water Baltimore found elevated bacteria levels and floating fats, oil and grease near the outfall for the Patapsco wastewater treatment plant. The watchdog group reported its findings to MDE, which through a series of inspections from May through December observed extensive violations of both plants’ discharge permits as well as serious maintenance and staffing problems at both facilities.

The problems came to light on Aug. 30 when Blue Water released MDE inspection reports for both plants along with an MDE letter to the city demanding immediate corrective action.

The apparent delay in state action has raised questions about the adequacy of MDE’s regulatory oversight. On Jan. 18, three days before the lawsuit was filed, MDE Secretary Ben Grumbles was grilled by state senators over this and other compliance and enforcement issues that have arisen in the past year. At the hearing, Grumbles acknowledged “recent missteps” and vowed to increase both the number of inspectors and inspections overseeing poultry farms and public drinking water systems.

It's hard to imagine that the state didn't really know what was going on long before long before Blue Water complained. It's their job.