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| Digestors at Back River Sewage Treatment Plant |
Maryland regulators have extended supervision of the beleaguered Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant through July after Baltimore City reported problems at the facility following an explosion in the spring.
The state took control last year of the Dundalk-based plant after the city failed to act on multiple permit violations and sewage discharges. Environmental advocates have also filed a federal lawsuit seeking a court order to fix Back River along with the city’s other wastewater treatment plant, Patapsco.
Operations at Back River were temporarily suspended in March following an explosion and fire at a contractor facility, which is operated by the company Synagro and converts solid waste into fertilizer.
The Synagro facility is responsible for receiving about 70% of the solids that are separated from the wastewater at the treatment plant, according to a June 2022 report from the Maryland Environmental Service.
Baltimore fire officials this week released the results of their investigation into the explosion, stating a spark in the dryer ignited dust and caused an explosion that then ignited thermal oil. The fire was classified as accidental.
In the weeks following the explosion, the city reported wet weather caused the Back River plant to discharge slightly more phosphorus than permissible. And the plant’s reduced ability to process sludge contributed to a short-term buildup. Two of Back River’s tanks later overflowed on May 27 due to an accumulation of solids and pump failures, the city told a federal court this month.
State regulators will remain at the facility through the end of July because of the excess phosphorus discharge, said Jay Apperson, a spokesperson for Maryland Department of the Environment, in an email Wednesday. And the department is investigating the city’s report that sludge was discharged five times in May.
I hope the state is also collecting all the money that Baltimore is collecting for sewage treatment.
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