Baltimore City’s Board of Estimates has approved construction of the long-awaited project that will eliminate more than 80 

percent of the volume of sewage overflowing the City’s aged sanitary sewer system, and keep the streams, harbor, and Chesapeake Bay cleaner.

The Headworks Project at the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant will cost about $430 million and go into operation by Dec. 31, 2020. Construction will begin this summer.

“This investment will make for a cleaner Baltimore, and go a long way toward helping stop sanitary sewer overflows,” said Mayor Catherine Pugh. “I look forward to having it in operation in a little more than three years from now.”

At the heart of the Headworks Project is a series of four 1,000-horsepower pumps that will remove a hydraulic restriction. This restriction keeps the 11-foot by 12-foot pipe leading into the Back River Plant from fully emptying. So, when a large storm occurs and water infiltrates the sewer pipes, it can create a miles-long sewage backup contributing to overflows and spills.

Four additional 1,500-horsepower pumps will activate when the City is experiencing large storms. Those pumps will divert the additional water into two storage tanks with a total capacity of 36 million gallons. After the storm event has passed, the stored influent will be gradually fed back into the normal plant process stream.

Progress on Sewer Consent Decree

“We’ve known for years that the Headworks Project is an essential step toward helping us meet the terms of our sewer consent decree,” said Rudolph S. Chow, P.E., director of the Baltimore City Department of Public Works. “Our engineers have finally been able to put together a plan to turn it into reality, and build it in a way that is fiscally responsible.”

The Headworks Project is being constructed using an alternative delivery model called Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR). The CMAR, a joint venture of Clark Construction, of Bethesda, and Ulliman-Schutte, based in Ohio, has been working with DPW since August 2016 to control costs and develop an aggressive construction plan that will allow the project to begin operation no later than the end of 2020.

The guaranteed maximum construction price is $429,776,789. The CMAR is responsible for paying costs which exceed this price.

The contract approval won praise from the Waterfront Partnership, which set a goal of making Baltimore’s harbor swimmable and fishable. "We are a huge supporter of the Headworks Project and applaud the Department of Public Works’ initiative in moving forward on what is perhaps the most important step to improving the quality of the City’s streams and, of course, the Harbor,” said Michael Hankin, chair of the Partnership’s Board of Directors.