City now discloses that 12.6 million gallons of sewage were released into harbor
In its fourth disclosure since Thursday, DPW says that 64 times more wastewater was dumped into the harbor during Wednesday’s storm than originally reported
Above: The Falls Road bike path above the “structured” sewage outflow into the Jones Falls. The city now says that 3 million gallons of raw sewage were released here.
Updated 4:40 p.m. Friday – The Department of Public Works has now re-updated its estimate of raw sewage dumped into the Inner Harbor during Wednesday night’s storm.
The new total of 12.6 million gallons of wastewater is more than double the 5.4 million gallons that DPW reported earlier today in a public release – and fully 64 times the amount reported yesterday.
In its original press release on Thursday – which is required by state law – the agency said that 164,000 gallons of wastewater were released, mostly in the Middle East neighborhood from an overflow.
Later in the day, the department amended the figure to 200,150 gallons, citing a previously unreported release also in the Middle East area north of the Johns Hopkins Medical Complex.
Early this afternoon, DPW disclosed that, in fact, another 5.4 million gallons were released at two “structured overflow” pipes into the Jones Falls during the storm.
In its public release yesterday, DPW had mentioned that “structured overflows released wastewater into the Jones Falls” during Wednesday’s storm.
This morning The Brew requested from the department information on the sewage releases at two specific locales: 1901 Falls Road and 428 East Preston Street.
A DPW press release, issued at 1:27 p.m. today, reported these overflow figures for the two sites:
1901 Falls Road– 84,000 gallons
428 E. Preston Street – 5,335,000 gallons
In an updated press release, issued at 4:20 p.m. today, the agency upped the numbers to:
1901 Falls Road – 3,088,000 gallons
428 E. Preston Street – 9,327,000 gallons
This wastewater ran through the underground Fallsway to the point where it resurfaces near East Lombard Street and then emptied into the Inner Harbor south of Pratt Street.
A number of high-end hotels, restaurants and other establishments border the Fallsway where it empties into the harbor.
Among them are the Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Four Seasons Baltimore and Pier Six Concert Pavilion.
The city’s failure to report these massive releases of sewage-mixed with stormwater to the state was one of the problems highlighted in a report released in December by the D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project.