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"50 MILLION GALLON SEWAGE SPILL" fines seam ass backward

7K views 23 replies 19 participants last post by  27 sailfish 
#1 ·
i was reading saturdays Gazette paper (page A-2) this morning with a cup of coffee, and again read about yet another big "50 MILLION GALLON SEWAGE SPILL" into the Patapsco. Trully sad & disturbing, anddoh that baltimore county will only pay a fine of $15,000.00 for any spills over 1 million gallons, seams easy going to me, any way what botherd me even more was reading further down to the bottom of same page is another article about some fines handed out to a homeowner & a tree company for illegal triming some trees on south river. in a nut shell the tree company was fined $10,000.00 for illegal trim triming & the Homeowner had to spend $14,000.00 to replant trees) "THATS $24,000.00 TOTAL FOR TRIMING SOME TREES" but only "$15,000.00 for a 50 MILLION GALLON SEWAGE SPILL" WTF, i am not saying cuting trees illegaly is ok but this seams a little ass backwards to me, just thought i would share my frustrations.
 
#2 ·
See, the problem is, to upgrade the sewer and stormwater systems, you would either have to raise the money through taxes and/or user fees. Now we've learned over the last 20 years or so that taxes are the root of all evil in the universe, and society as a whole would blossom and grow into a paradise for all if we could only eliminate taxes, so the odds of getting folks to pony up for improvement to the municipal systems is slim to none. We'd rather swim in poop than fix the sewer systems. It's easier for the politicians to go after a few scapegoats than actually impose a clear path for collected revenue to be applied to infrastructure improvements.
Pat in Joppa
 
#4 ·
This issue has infuriated me for years. Sewage leaks in the Patapsco are treated so dismissively by the media as well as the state and county regulators that I cannot forsee a solution anywhere on the horizon. I often wonder if there would be public outrage if the shores of the Patapsco were more residential in nature. Politicians really have no incentive to get involved in this issue because most of the Patapsco flows through State Park and industrial land. If the Patapsco were one of the more over-developed, residential tributaries around Annapolis there would be tax paying constituents raising hell and bringing attention to the issue. As it stands, big industry on the river will not push for change as they live in a glass house with respect to the toll that they also exact upon the river. If the state parks folks have been trying to do anything about this I certainly haven't heard about it. Blue Plains facility on the Potomac is a shining example of what needs to happen to reverse this trend. Taking it one step further, Baltimore City should try to fix their arcane, failing water treatment infastructure instead of wasting resources repaving streets for a stupid Indy car race.
 
#23 ·
This stuff has been going on for decades, and continues annually...all for lack of a backup power source, common sense and simply giving a damn.

They used the financial hardship story back then too when we were flush (no pun intended) with $$. I was an activist re this stuff back in the 70's (40 years ago!!!) in high school/college with Save Our Streams on other Baltimore area rivers like the Big and Little Gunpowder. Back then it was maintenance at the Perry Hall pumping station requiring shutting down the pumps and the plan was to divert (purposeful spill) millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Big Gunpowder. I contacted then Congressman Clarence Long and guess what...a solution was found quickly.

The attitude is likely that Patapsco River is an urban, industrialized, and ugly landfilled **** river to start with, chits been flowing into it for centuries so whats a bit more. Ho hum...another day another 100 million gallons of chit. All in a days work; push a button; throw a lever. To the neighbors, albiet lower middle class +/- this is the way of life so no one complains. If this happened regularly in an upscale area, or where someone gave a damn. the problem would be solved toot-sweet. Like Perry Hall.

How much $$$ was spent, to MUCH fanfare by the Md/National organizations and agencies, to remove the upriver dams to allow migratory fish passage? I see little sense in replacing a physical upriver barrier with a down river toxic and biological one. Talk about $$ wasted, when migratory fish must pass through a ch*t gauntlet or bypass the feeder river entirely. It simply comes down to one of those WTF moments, where the failings of one small link adversely affect a much larger regional and national chain.
 
#5 ·
Not to sound like a broken record but how did NYC fix the Hudson and East Rivers? These rivers now have a spawning fisherie that resides there. The water is clean and people eat the fish they catch. No mention of this disease that causes the open sores on stripers. Just how did they do it? Where did they get the money? They did get the politicans involved though. See in NYC if the elected officials don't do want the people want, the people vote them out of office and in a hurry too! Bob
 
#6 ·
Saw in paper - DNR has closed some of the Patapsco river to shellfish harvest - due to that spill.

Sad part - read that the pipe that burst was inspected recently and deemed serviceable. That is scary.

There is now a bypass in place - perhaps the pipes will be replaced before bypass is removed.
 
#10 ·
Let's face it ,to the politicians the bay is just a dumping ground for whatever they need to get rid of cheap.We can't ask the wealthy to pitch in their share of taxes to help with these problems,that would be an awful burden on the top one or two percent of our wealthiest citizens.They think it's ok to fine the pants off some average Joe who cuts down the wrong tree though.What a bunch of assholes we have running our government agencies
 
#11 ·
Here we go again ( rla 69) "the rich can't pitch in their share"...please direct your wrath to the proper people. The elected officials who spend money on pet projects to grease the palms of others in order to get campaign money. Those are the people that don't care about the bay.

I know this old woman who lives in Admiral Heights ( Annapolis) on the water in a 60 year old house ( original builder - not upgraded). She pays over $24,000 in property taxes a year. I'd say she pays her share. I'm sure she does not consider herself "rich".
 
#15 ·
Here we go again ( rla 69) "the rich can't pitch in their share"...please direct your wrath to the proper people. The elected officials who spend money on pet projects to grease the palms of others in order to get campaign money. Those are the people that don't care about the bay.

I know this old woman who lives in Admiral Heights ( Annapolis) on the water in a 60 year old house ( original builder - not upgraded). She pays over $24,000 in

property taxes a year. I'd say she pays her share. I'm sure she does not consider herself "rich".[

The Lady in Admiral heights isn't the one or two percent i'm talking about.It's the very top of the food chain who are not paying their share.They are not and never will pay a fair tax rate,they run the country.Now that the supreme court has decided corporate america can dump as much money into election campaigns as they wish it's even easier for them to put into office the people who they control.
 
#13 ·
"If they hadn't misused the money we already gave them, the pipes could have been replaced and this should not have happened. Stop dumping everything into the general fund, and use the money appropriately."

Yep, our Social Security and S%it both went down that same pipe.
 
#18 ·
I thought that Maryland charged for water use and then again for discharge to cover just this, not to mention the other taxes and fees that residents pay. I lived in and outside of Easton for nearly a year and was blown away by the taxes.

Of course the cost of living in Maryland is just as bad as in Virginia, and the polliticians seem to spend the money the same.

Somthing similar happened here in Virginia last fall. The local sewage treatment plant swithced to a generator because they thought that heavy rains were going to cause a power outage in Norfolk. Unfortunately the generator failed and the backup generator wouldn't start. Who know why they couldn't switch back to the power grid, but after 27 minutes of sewage building up in the main lines, they opened the valves and purged 630,000 gallons of sewage into the Elizabeth River. They injected Chlorine into the waste as it passed out of the plant into the Elizabeth River. Of course, Chlorine does not immediately kill all bacteria and they had to put out an advisory that affected local beaches. Wavy10 interviewed the plant manager and he claimed that the water was completely safe and the news caster played along. If you read the first attached link, you get a more frank version of the story from the Pilot. The second is the Wavy10 version. Notice how they minimize and dismiss the incident and its affects. There was absolutely no talk of any kind of fine being paid for what is obviously due to complete negligence on the part of the plant managers.

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/09/630000-gallons-sewage-flow-elizabeth-river

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/norfolk/power-out-at-hrsd-caused-problems
 
#19 ·
The "rich" not only pay taxes but put people to work...So tax them more so less people work and less people pay taxes..I just dont get it....As far as improving treatment plants... The more improvement the more development...So they will allways be overloaded......Good luck with that one guys..
 
#22 ·
Not only that but a high fiber and more vegetarian/roughage diet.
A fee should be attached to all that whole grain and veggie-this and that foo-foo food being pushed by do gooders and the proceeds go towards waste treatment upgrades. The heck with a flush tax...that's just the end result; hit the big pockets on top of the food chain where the digestive tract starts.:hysterical:
 
#24 ·
Update :

Algae bloom follows latest Patapsco sewage spill

Posted: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 9:33 am
Algae bloom follows latest Patapsco sewage spill PAMELA WOOD Staff Writer CapitalGazette.com | 0 comments
First came the sewage, now comes the algae bloom.
The Patapsco River is seeing a large bloom of prorocentrum minimum algae, likely due to a massive sewage spill one month ago.

The Department of Natural Resources can't confirm the link yet, but officials said it makes sense that the influx of nutrient-rich sewage is driving the growth of the current algae bloom.
About 17 millions of untreated sewage flowed into the river per day for several days after a 54-inch pipe burst near the Patapsco Pumping Station in Baltimore County on March 25.
Last week, a monitoring station in Masonville Cove on the Patapsco started recording a spike in chlorophyll readings, said Mark Trice, who helps run the DNR Eyes on the Bay monitoring program.
Chlorophyll indicates the presence of algae in the water.
Tests showed the algae to be prorocentrum minimum, a variety of mahogany tide that can tint the water a reddish-brown color.
It's not clear how long the algae bloom will last - it depends on the weather and how many nutrients flow into the river and feed the algae, said Cathy Wazniak, a water quality expert with the DNR.
With so much algae in the water, the dissolved oxygen levels have dropped, meaning there is too little oxygen for fish, crabs and shellfish to live in that area right now.
The Patapsco algae bloom is one of several examples of earlier-than-usual algae blooms across the Chesapeake Bay this spring.
For information on algae blooms and water quality, the DNR posts data at www.eyesonthebay.net.
 
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