Final Reports on Sanitary Sewer Overflows Compiled

The Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) announced the estimated sanitary sewer overflows due to record rainfall earlier this week exceeded 3 million gallons.

A previously reported overflow at the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant on the afternoon of Tuesday, Aug. 12, has been estimated at approximately 3 million gallons. The overflow began at 2:30 p.m. and was stopped at 7:25 p.m.

A related sewage overflow less than a half mile away, at a pumping station at Patapsco Avenue and Shell Road, was identified late that evening and was stopped in the early morning hours of Thursday, Aug. 14. That incident resulted in approximately 170,300 gallons being spilled. Both overflows went into the Patapsco River.

Another previously reported overflow on the afternoon of Aug. 12, at 1901 Falls Road, was also stopped that evening. It is estimated that a flow of 50 gallons per minute released 23,050 gallons into the Jones Falls.

A rainfall of 6.3 inches that afternoon was the second-highest one-day total for Baltimore on record. The volume of water overwhelmed systems designed to move it, causing flooding, and infiltrated the City’s sanitary sewer system. DPW crews also responded to a handful of smaller overflows.

The Department of Public Works encourages residents to report suspected sewer overflows to 311. The Maryland Department of the Environment and the Baltimore City Health Department have been notified of these events.

For more information about health concerns as a result of overflows, please visit the Baltimore City Health Department website at http://www.baltimorehealth.org/water.htm