Forget It Jake, It's Baltimore

Patapsco Waste Water Treatment Plant

Baltimore Sun, Inspection shows continuing failures at Baltimore’s Patapsco wastewater plant as Maryland mulls another takeover

A May inspection of Baltimore’s Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant showed continuing failures to properly treat and dispose of solid waste, preventing the plant from filtering out pollutants to a level to be expected after millions of dollars of investments at the facility in recent years.

In a report dated May 18-21, the Maryland Department of the Environment laid out 18 steps that must be taken to bring the Wagner’s Point plant into compliance with environmental permits and regulations.

If that doesn’t happen quickly, department officials have already said the state may soon take over the second of Baltimore’s large wastewater plants. The Maryland Environmental Service, a quasi-state agency, took over operations of the Back River Wastewater Treatment plant in Dundalk in March.

Amid the ongoing problems at both plants, Blue Water Baltimore and the Chesapeake Legal Alliance said Thursday they plan to ask a federal judge to issue a temporary injunction compelling Baltimore, which owns both plants, to address the problems. The groups have an ongoing lawsuit, filed under the federal Clean Water Act, against the city in federal court.

At this point, why would Baltimore try to clean up its act, when it can do nothing, and have the State of Maryland assume to problem?