Operations and Maintenance

Water Quality Monitoring and Inspection Section

Operations and Maintenance

For the City’s NPDES stormwater permit, monitoring of streams, storm drains and the Harbor is required. The City relies on ammonia screening (AS) and stream impact sampling (SIS), two water quality monitoring programs run by the Water Quality Monitoring and Inspection Section, to initiate Pollution Source Tracking.

Pollution Control Analysts (PCAs) conduct ammonia screening and stream impact sampling. The main purpose of these water quality screenings is to find illicit connections to the stormwater infrastructure. Illicit discharge detection is a practice required by the MS4 permit. Five of these PCAs work on pollution source tracking (PSTs) to try to find illicit discharges.

The sampling stations for ammonia screening and stream impact sampling (see the list below) are grouped together by which of the four major watersheds they are in: Gwynns Falls, Jones Falls, Herring Run or the Harbor. A pair of PCAs is sent out together on a given day to sample each station in one watershed group.

At each station, during either ammonia screening or stream impact sampling, PCAs make the following water quality measurements: ammonia nitrogen, chlorine, water temperature, pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen. The ammonia nitrogen and chlorine measurements are made using a kit with reagents and a spectrophotometer. The other measurements are made with a water quality sonde with a digital display. For stream impact sampling, PCAs also collect stream samples for laboratory analyses of the following: total phosphorus, nitrate plus nitrite nitrogen, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, total copper, dissolved copper, total lead, dissolved lead, total zinc, dissolved zinc, total hardness, e. coli bacteria most probable number (MPN) count, enterococci MPN count, chlorides and fluoride.

The PCAs can use the field measurements right away to start an investigation for an illicit connection if any measurement was outside of the expected range. For instance, a higher than usual ammonia nitrogen measurement may indicate a leak from the sanitary sewer system getting into the stormwater infrastructure or discharging directly into the stream. Streams should have very little ammonia nitrogen- less than 0.05 parts per million (ppm). Our PCAs use of a value of 0.3 ppm as a trigger to start an investigation. Some of the other measurements that can trigger investigations are dissolved oxygen less than 5 ppm, chlorine greater than 0.2 ppm, pH less than 6.5 or greater than 8.5, a water temperature at one stream station that is much higher than the temperatures taken that day at other stations, or a conductivity reading that is much higher than usual for that particular station. PCAs will also start investigations because of color, turbidity or odor. The vast majority of investigations undertaken by our PCAs have been from measuring ammonia nitrogen above our trigger value of 0.3 ppm.

After reviewing recent lab results, or taking the collection of lab results over time from a particular station, the PCAs may initiate a PST. One example of a PST is seeing that a particular station usually has higher total copper than other stations in the watershed. A higher total copper measurement might be the result of an illicit industrial discharge. The PCAs doing such a PST would check for industries upstream in the watershed to see if there is an illicit discharge.

The field and lab measurements are plotted on time graphs to look for trends. In examining historical measurements, we can see water quality improvements after adopting better water quality practices. For example, we anticipate seeing lower bacteria counts after doing the sanitary sewer rehabilitation work required by the Consent Decree.

The program goal is to visit each of the 37-stream impact sampling stations once per month and each of the 46 ammonia-screening stations three times per month (see the table below for a list of the stations).

During 2009, staff conducted 172 watershed surveys: 124 ammonia screening watershed surveys and 48 stream impact screening watershed surveys; there were 1,760 station visits, and 16,359 field and laboratory water quality analyses were performed.

Watershed 246 Management Plan

Baltimore City through a $24,900 grant to the Watershed Alliance and the Center for Watershed Protection is developing a watershed plan aimed at reducing trash, increasing green space, creating more natural hydrology, and improving the livability of the community. There is significant public outreach for watershed neighborhoods including citizen bus tours, group site visits, and trash enforcement meetings with top-level public Works, Baltimore Housing development and code enforcement officials.

Rooftop Disconnection Project

The City is working with Blue Water Baltimore and Center for Watershed Protection in a rooftop disconnection project. Approximately 4,000 downspouts at 2,000 homes will be disconnected by autumn 2012. 

Education

In 2010 a series of meetings was held to discuss surface water and other DPW-related issues with community leaders throughout the City. Presentations were given and handouts on surface water were provided. Additional meetings with community organizations are planned for 2012. 

Working with watershed organizations (now Blue Water Baltimore), public opinion research has been conducted on the need to improve the health of our waterways. Thousands of storm drain markers have been placed in the Jones Falls watershed by volunteers, working in conjunction with DPW-Bureau of Water and Wastewater, to alert the public that storm drains are not trashcans. DPW has also been an active participant in volunteer stream cleanup activities. News stories focusing on the need for surface water protections have been broadcasted, printed and posted and are ongoing.

Household Hazardous Waste

Baltimore City has instituted a permanent location for monthly collection of hazardous household materials at the NW Sanitation Yard, 2840 Sisson St. This is a free service for City residents. The purpose is to assist the public in proper disposal of hazardous substances so that these do not enter the regular trash stream nor discharged into the surface waters. The City also provides a fact sheet educating citizens about the effects of household hazardous waste on surface water. For more information please call 410-396-6070.

City Fertilizer and Pesticide Use

The Department of Recreation and Parks staff has been educated not to use fertilizer or pesticides on over 6,000 acres of parkland within the City boundaries (except minor amounts on some ball fields) and none are used on over 17,000 acres the City owns surrounding the three water supply reservoirs in Baltimore and Carroll Counties.