Another sewage spill in Patapsco

[chex]

For those of you who, like me, like to fish in the Patapsco... yet another spill to be weary of.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bre...0,812899.story

[Memory Maker]

OK .......... GET OUT the TROUT BAIT ......... Brown Trout are running .......

Back River Brown runnig in the Patapsco

[Yak Fish]

The problem is much worse than you'd imagine. Look at this link that shows all the overflows. Just make sure you search by county....and get ready to scroll down the page. Also look at the dates. What you think may be 10 years worth of overflows is merely a month.

http://www.mde.maryland.gov/programs...rOverflow.aspx

[ronaultmtd]

Eating fish from this region of the upper Bay continue to be a health concern as does the bacteria in the water pose a health hazard to cuts, exposure in case of turtling, etc.

[MDFishin]

Sewage spills are suprisingly frequent the link Yak Fish posted confirms that...and that kinda freaked me out too. Just seeing that many SPILLS in a year. Im not sure if that site includes the much more common stormwater OVERFLOW. I grew up close to North Beach MD, and their sewer system is connected to the stormwater system (same with the City of Salisburys system). What this means is that all the storm water and sewage water flow into the same pipe, and are both treated at the treament plant. If rainfall is excessive the treatment plant becomes overwhelmed and cannot process all the affluent. When this happens the excess UNTREATED mix of sewage and stormwater are piped off directly into local waterways. In Salisbury the water is dumped into the Wicimico, in North Beach it is the Chesapeake. I remember growing up seeing signs on the beach saying dont swim due to bacterial blooms, and now i understand why. The blooms always followed heavy storm events.

I know Salisbury is currently overhauling their system, I hope North Beach has done, or is doing the same. This is a very expensive process.

[surfdog]

its the same in DC. all the storm and sanitary go to blue plains stp. their thinking that the sewage will be diluted by the storm water. "the solution to pollution is dilution"

[Memory Maker]

its the same in DC. all the storm and sanitary go to blue plains stp. their thinking that the sewage will be diluted by the storm water. "the solution to pollution is dilution"

.......... or severe constipation .......

[chimo]

its the same in DC. all the storm and sanitary go to blue plains stp. their thinking that the sewage will be diluted by the storm water. "the solution to pollution is dilution"

Combined sewer systems are a problem in most of the older cities in the country. Studied this some while I was in school and is definately a very expensive situation to correct. You need to change an entire philosophy for dealing with stormwater runoff. Luckily "the solution to pollution is dillution" mindset isn't quite as prevalent as it used to be and people are looking for more viable solutions. In the meantime....

Chimo

[kaya king]

Scary, scary stuff.
I was reading recently that the New River in VA also has 16.5 TONS (!!) of toxins dumped in it DAILY!!

Now, what's the fine for littering or dumping for the average citizen?
Sickening...

I agree, chimo, expensive upgrades, to be sure.. But, in my mind, the frustrating thing to me is, there must have been something in the budget for decades(and I'm sure collected through taxes and or fees) labeled something like "Capital Improvements"...
Did no one foresee a need for these upgrades eons ago?!

[ronaultmtd]

This Congress' obsession with massive reductions of federal spending should not surprise you to know that public water treatment plants, municipal sewer systems nation-wide are at or near the breaking point- schools, bridges, tunnels, airports, dams, electrical grids, gas mains, water mains, levees, canals....name any public infrastructure- it is crumbling and on the verge of failure- don't read the book "On the Edge of Disaster"- if you do, you won't sleep well agin-