Heavy, Sustained Rainfall Led to 3rd Sewer Overflow
Sunday Jun 28th, 2015
Baltimore - Heavy rainfall on Saturday led to a third sanitary sewer overflow of approximately 68,000 gallons. This one occurred in the 2200 block of Falls Road. The overflow stopped late last night. This was in addition to a an estimated 51,000 gallons from a sanitary sewer line overflow last night in the 1700 block of East Chase Street.
Earlier on Saturday, DPW reported an overflow at the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant in Wagner’s Point. The overflow began at approximately 5:30 P.M. on Saturday and was stopped that night. Estimates place the overflow at about 100,000 to 150,000 gallons. This wastewater entered the Patapsco River in the Outer Harbor.
The cause was these was the massive inflow of stormwater entering the sewer lines as a result of the day's prolonged hard rain. The 3.11 inches of rain on the day was a record for any June 27. The Maryland Department of the Environment and the Baltimore City Health Department have been notified of this event.
Baltimore City is in the construction phase of a $1 Billion Consent Decree Program to rehabilitate our sewer infrastructure which will help to reduce sewer overflows. At this time $100,000,000 in sewer rehabilitation projects are occurring throughout the City.