Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) serve a critical public and environmental health function in local infrastructure, especially in major cities like Baltimore. They remove contaminants and solids from municipal wastewater before the treated water is discharged back into local waters like the Patapsco and Back Rivers, and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
Those failures threaten public health and the environment, including pollution violations far in excess of safe limits and even discharges of partially untreated sewage. The Patapsco and Back River WWTPs are the two largest in Maryland and have discharged bacteria and nutrients far above the allowable limits set by the plants’ wastewater discharge permits. Excessive amounts of bacteria can carry pathogens that make people sick, and high levels of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus cause algal blooms that lead to fish kills and dead zones that devastate local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay.
In December 2021, Chesapeake Legal Alliance took legal action to correct those failures by filing a complaint in U.S. District Court on behalf of its client, Blue Water Baltimore, for excessive pollution and ongoing violations of the Clean Water Act. But the WWTPs’ failures continued even after CLA’s suit was filed. Bacteria samples from 2022, showed spikes in bacteria levels far in excess of permitted limits–in some instances over 180 times the allowable limit. In June 2022, CLA filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, which resulted in a court order requiring the City to update the Court monthly as to its progress toward complying with its Clean Water Act permit.
In November 2023, CLA signed an agreement with the Maryland Department of the Environment and Baltimore City on behalf of our client to resolve this case and develop a legally enforceable plan (called a “consent decree”). The consent decree compels prompt correction of ongoing pollution violations at both plants, and the implementation of a third-party oversight process to ensure adequate operation, maintenance, and safety requirements. To protect public health, the agreement requires the City to install warning signs and lights at the plant outfalls to signal if a treatment by-pass has occurred. The agreement levied the largest water pollution penalty in the state’s history: $4.75M. Of that penalty amount, 40% will be used for environmental projects to benefit the waterways and communities most impacted by the pollution violations, and 30% will be payable only if the City violates the agreement.
On November 2nd, 2023, Chesapeake Legal Alliance and its client, Blue Water Baltimore, announced an agreement with Maryland Department of the Environment and Baltimore City to address pollution violations at the state’s two largest Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs).
Working cooperatively with the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE), Blue Water Baltimore and Chesapeake Legal Alliance fought for a comprehensive plan to fix the significant problems at the Back River and Patapsco WWTPs, with transparency and oversight to make sure that plan is followed. Under the agreement, Baltimore City will pay $4.75 million in penalties, replace and repair necessary equipment, submit quarterly progress reports, and hold annual public meetings to inform the public of the work being done. To protect public health, the City will be required to install signs and warning lights at the WWTP outfalls in the Patapsco and Back Rivers that will turn on if sewage discharges bypass some or all of the plants’ treatment processes. Importantly, third-party engineers will provide oversight to ensure the City is on track with the milestones in the decree.
The settlement is the largest civil penalty for a water pollution violation in at least 25 years and one of the largest ever civil penalties for a violation of any Maryland environmental law.
And to learn more about the details of the consent decree, read our fact sheet.
On March 15, 2023, an explosion and fire broke out at the state of Maryland’s largest Wastewater treatment plant located in Baltimore County. CLA hopes early reports that no one was injured in today’s explosion at Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant prove true, and that the plant is able to resume all of its operations as soon as safely possible. Chesapeake Legal Alliance and our client, Blue Water Baltimore, have been raising alarms for nearly two years about conditions at the Back River and Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plants, which pose a threat not only to the environment and to nearby residents, but to the workers at the plants as well. We have been working for many months with the State of Maryland to enforce state and federal laws at the Back River and Patapsco Waste Water Treatment plants. Read our statement.
On Monday, June 13, 2022, Chesapeake Legal Alliance and Barley Snyder, on behalf of its client, Blue Water Baltimore, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court, District of Maryland to require Baltimore City to act immediately to fix ongoing health and safety issues at its Patapsco and Back River wastewater treatment plants and to post health advisory signs at water recreation areas impacted by the plants.
This comes after recent inspections at both facilities found continuing, and in some cases, worsening deficiencies and disrepair, causing dangerous conditions for nearby residents and plant workers. Additionally, the plants continue to violate their discharge permits despite active orders from the Maryland Department of the Environment to rectify these violations.
Chesapeake Legal Alliance is representing Blue Water Baltimore (BWB) in a lawsuit against Baltimore City for ongoing violations of the Clean Water Act at the Back River wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and Patapsco WWTP. As the two largest WWTPs in the state of Maryland, the pollution from these plants is causing environmental damage, posing public health risk in the Back River and Patapsco River and threatening the state’s ability to achieve Bay Cleanup Goals.
Blue Water Baltimore has been analyzing bacteria samples taken in coordination with the Back River Restoration Committee downstream of the Back River WWTP and sharing data results with Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) since January 2022. BWB’s data show intermittent spikes in bacteria levels far above the safe limit for human contact – in some instances over 180 times the threshold. MDE began its own routine monitoring of the Back River near the Back River WWTP in late April and also found recent high spikes near the plant discharge pipe.
In response to the unsafe bacteria levels, the state issued an advisory to avoid contacting water in the Back River, a popular recreation area.
“Posting signs and issuing an advisory for the Back River is a great first step to protect the public,” said Angela Haren, Senior Attorney at Chesapeake Legal Alliance. “The same warning signs are also urgently needed in areas around Baltimore Harbor where people recreate and fecal bacteria levels often fluctuate well above the safe limit.”
On behalf of our client Blue Water Baltimore, today we asked the federal court to allow our citizen suit enforcement action to proceed against Baltimore City for ongoing Clean Water Act violations at Maryland’s two largest wastewater treatment plants. Angela Haren, CLA senior attorney said, “The years of neglect of the plants have reached a breaking point. It is imperative that we immediately develop a plan to get the plants into compliance and compel the City to adhere to that plan under a court order.”
