Re: Baltimore city DPW reporting on sewer overflows
After Baltimore Brew wrote about the city’s reporting in the case of a Gwynns Run sewer overflow, the city Department of Public Works had this response from spokesman Jeffrey Raymond, chief of Communications and Community Affairs.
“Your story today implies that we don’t promptly report. We do,” he wrote. “You cite examples from other jurisdictions of reporting massive overflows as they occur, implying that we don’t. Below are three examples of sudden, large overflows that were all reported within hours of us learning about them. We take this responsibility seriously.”
City Reports Sewer Overflow
Broken 8 inch main spills into Gwynns Falls
BALTIMORE, MD (September 27, 2013) – The Department of Public Works announced that an 8 inch sanitary sewer overflow is ongoing into a tributary of the Gwynns Falls near the 4200 block of Franklintown Road. It is located about a third of a mile into the woods and some large downed trees will have to be moved tomorrow in order to access the site of the break. It was reported at approximately noon and crews responded immediately. Because of the location this work will be done tomorrow during daylight hours.
The overflow is estimated at 50 gallons per minute.
The Maryland Department of the Environment and the Baltimore City Health Department have been notified and the stream has been posted. In addition, permanent signs are already posted along city streams to remind citizens that urban streams are subject to pollutants. For more information about health concerns as a result of the overflows, please visit the Baltimore City Health Department website at http://www.baltimorehealth.org/water.html.
Baltimore City is entering the construction phase of a Consent Decree program to rehabilitate and replace aging sewer lines.
City Reports Sewer Overflow
Broken 8 inch main spills into Stony Run
BALTIMORE, MD (June 6, 2013) – The Department of Public Works announced that an 8 inch sanitary sewer overflow is ongoing into Stony Run near 39th Street. It was reported at approximately 10:30 a.m. and crews responded immediately. These workers have been using a harmless red dye to help pinpoint the specific location of the break in the main. As a result, the stream may appear pink at certain locations.
The overflow is estimated at from 50 to 100 gallons per minute.
The Maryland Department of the Environment and the Baltimore City Health Department have been notified and the stream has been posted. In addition, permanent signs are already posted along city streams to remind citizens that urban streams are subject to pollutants. For more information about health concerns as a result of the overflows, contact the Health Department at 410-396-4422.
Baltimore City is entering the construction phase of a Consent Decree program to rehabilitate and replace aging sewer lines.
City Reports Sanitary Sewer Overflow at Back River
BALTIMORE, MD (March, 2013) – The Department of Public Works announced that a sanitary sewer overflow occurred today at the Back River Wastewater Treatment Facility. The cause was apparently a contractor error which disrupted electrical service at the plant, disabling some operations for approximately 20 minutes. This resulted in the overflow of up to 1.3 million gallons of partially treated wastewater into the storm drains, and from there into Back River. That amount is about one-half of one percent of the total daily amount of wastewater processed there.
The overflow was stopped after that 20 minute electrical service interruption.
The Maryland Department of the Environment, and the Baltimore County Health and Public Works Departments have been notified of this event.
For more information about health concerns as a result of the overflows, please visit the Baltimore City Health Department website at http://www.baltimorehealth.org/water.html.