BALTIMORE — Maryland’s Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles has directed the state to take charge of operations at Baltimore City’s troubled Back River Wastewater Treatment plant in Dundalk — the largest such facility in the state.
The extraordinary step came Sunday after the Maryland Department of the Environment “determined that the decline in the proper maintenance and operation of the Plant risks catastrophic failures,” according to Grumbles’ directive.
An inspection report released last week showed widespread maintenance issues at the city-run facility, all preventing it from adequately treating the sewage flowing in from both the city and Baltimore County. Environmental regulators believe that has resulted in massive discharges of partially treated sewage into the Back River, complete with nutrients and dangerous bacteria that harm the Chesapeake Bay.
