Community Corner

Back River Sewage Spill Causes Safety, Communication Concerns

Residents are upset over how the public was informed of the overflow following Hurricane Irene.

(UPDATED 3 p.m.) Members of the Back River Restoration Committee (BRRC) are upset over how county officials informed the public of this week’s sewage overflow that led

BRCC Chairman of the Board Larry Farinetti is upset that his organization was not directly informed of the overflow that occurred between Saturday night and early Sunday morning, during the height of Hurricane Irene’s strong winds and heavy rain.

“We’re out there almost every day, and to find out via a small notice in the newspaper is disturbing,” Farinetti said. “I understand overflows like this are possible, especially during a week like this with Hurricane Irene. We would have just liked to have been notified directly so we could take the proper precautions.”

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On the southeast side of Baltimore County, five pumping stations overflowed: Delmar, Masseth Avenue, Chesapeake Terrace, Hyde Park and Fort Howard. Overall, 12 pumping stations overflowed, although each had a varying degree of sewage spilling out into local waterways.

For example, the Delmar pumping station had 1.94 million gallons of sewage overflow, followed by Fort Howard (59,000), Chesapeake Terrace (42,000), Hyde Park (39,400) and Messeth Avenue (2,000) in the southeast part of the county, Department of Public Works spokesman David Fidler said.

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In each case, raw sewage is fed into the pumping station from underground pipelines. As sewage rises, pumps lift and store the sewage until it can be processed in a nearby treatment plant. This process, however, .

Power was restored to the stations by Sunday night, Fidler said, and late Monday evening, a news release announced the overflows to the public for the first time.

The county Department of Health's website included the Back River, southwest of Route 702, was on a list of potentially hazardous waterways that "may be degraded by surface run-off and potential sewage overflows resulting from power outages and heavy rains associated with Hurricane Irene.” 

However, Back River and other bodies of water were tested on August 30 or 31 and sampling results indicate that no advisories or alerts are necessary for Back River, county Health Department spokesman Monique Lyle said.

“Persons who have open cuts or wounds or who are health compromised should avoid contact with cloudy or debris-strewn waters. If contact is unavoidable, wash exposed skin areas thoroughly," according to the website.

Fidler said public works, in a cooperative effort with the health department, makes an effort to inform the public about potentially hazardous water, and when necessary, sends notices directly to impacted community members. 

He added that any wastewater has likely already flowed away from the area surrounding the pumping stations in the days following Hurricane Irene.

“We make a concerted effort to work with the proper agencies to ensure the public is notified of overflows in a timely manner,” Fidler said.


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