Maryland Department of the Environment officials are “in discussions” about issuing an order that would place the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant in Baltimore under state control, said Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles.
It could mirror the arrangement at Baltimore City’s other wastewater plant, located along Back River in Dundalk, which has been under the control of the Maryland Environmental Service since late March, following an order from Grumbles that the city has challenged in court.
“We are in discussions about similar orders or directives. We want to make sure that MES is a partner with the city. But this is all under discussion. What we find unacceptable is the current situation,” the outgoing secretary said during an interview Monday. “We are not focusing just on Back River. And so, stay tuned on that front.”
Grumbles said the department has ramped up inspections at the Patapsco facility, which have revealed continuing problems. Maintenance and operational issues plaguing the plant have resulted in high levels of nutrients and bacteria flowing into the Patapsco River.
The state initially moved to inspect the Back River and Patapsco plants last summer, following reports from local nonprofit Blue Water Baltimore that water samples taken near the latter plant showed abnormally high bacteria levels. At the time, some wondered why the problems weren’t discovered by environmental inspectors sooner.
After numerous inspections at both facilities showed a litany of maintenance and operational issues that had been ongoing for months, the state sued the city in January. Blue Water Baltimore previously had filed a suit against the city in federal court.
By March, Grumbles had taken the unprecedented step of ordering the Maryland Environmental Service to “take charge” of the Back River plant.
Last week, in its recently reopened federal lawsuit against the city, Blue Water Baltimore asked a judge to allow the filing of an injunction that would require Baltimore to make certain immediate improvements at both of the plants.
In a statement, Baltimore Department of Public Works spokeswoman Yolanda Winkler said an injunction would be “unnecessary,” given that the Maryland Department of the Environment already has required a report be developed with a list of action items for each plant.
“DPW’s collaboration with MES and MDE has produced positive results given our daily meetings, strategy discussions, and maintenance activities,” Winkler wrote. “DPW looks forward to our continued relationship with our state partners to focus on our wastewater treatment plants.”
In Blue Water Baltimore’s filing, lawyers representing the nonprofit argued that conditions at both plants have continued to deteriorate despite the lawsuits and the involvement of MES. In March, for instance, as it struggled to effectively remove solids from the waste stream, the Patapsco plant reported a total nitrogen concentration of 22.2 milligrams per liter in its outflow, a record high of seven times its limit. Less than halfway through 2022, the plant has exceeded its annual allowance for nitrogen discharged into the river, the filing said.
At the Back River plant, nitrogen loads declined in April after hitting a record high of 10.8 milligrams per liter in March. Phosphorous levels also declined after a March peak. But that facility also is overwhelmed by solid waste, according to a progress report released Saturday. In April, MDE declared the Back River unsuitable for human contact due to its bacteria levels.
In the progress report, the Maryland Department of the Environment stated that numerous equipment fixes are underway or already have been completed, and temporary permits have been issued to several area landfills so they can accept sludge from the plant. But the report also said that “MES continues to face challenges with the city to keep the facility maintained and equipment running continuously.”
In an interview about last week’s court filing, Alice Volpitta, Blue Water’s Baltimore Harborkeeper, said the injunction is about the “lowest hanging fruit”: the fixes that the nonprofit believes city officials could deploy quickly to reduce the quantity of nutrients and bacteria expelled from the plants. That includes actions like ensuring workers at the plants use skimmers to effectively remove scum floating in tanks that could inhibit the waste treatment process, she said.
Blue Water Baltimore has previously called for third-party oversight at the Patapsco plant, just like at Back River.
“It feels like Patapsco is getting left in the dust,” Volpitta said.
Meanwhile, the Maryland Department of the Environment is preparing for a leadership change.
Grumbles announced last week that he would be stepping down June 1 to become president of the Environmental Council of States, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit. Deputy Secretary Horacio Tablada has been tapped to take over.
In an interview Monday, Grumbles said his departure — seven months before the end of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s final term — wasn’t a result of criticism he’d received from legislators and environmentalists about his department’s response to the pollution coming from Baltimore’s plants or other recent incidents.
“An environment secretary who’s doing her job or his job is going to get constant criticism from those who feel we’re doing too much or not doing enough,” said Grumbles, the longest-serving environment secretary in Maryland history. “I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed serving as secretary and I am only leaving now because I have the opportunity on a national platform to advance green progress among all the states — red and blue — borrowing Governor Hogan’s purple surfboard.”