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Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Sunday, August 19, 2001
Region's sewers stressed by growing population
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) - Across Maryland, Virginia and Washington,
from the newest suburbs to remote rural areas, millions of gallons of
human waste spill from pipes and seep through manholes, down residential
streets and into creeks and rivers.
Thousands of miles of pipeline carrying the region's waste are
routinely cracked by tree roots or clogged by grease or vandals. And a
burgeoning population is stressing some systems as never before.
In May 2000, 10 million gallons spilled after a treatment plant in
Upper Marlboro lost power for almost 12 hours during a storm. This
spring, raw sewage backed up into the kitchen of a Fairfax County
elementary school, forcing cooks to throw away the lunch they were
preparing.
Maryland and Northern Virginia reported 1,492 spills totaling 345
million gallons between 1998 and 2000, according to a Washington Post
analysis of sewage records.
Each year, the District has about 75 spills that dump about 3 billion
gallons of storm water contaminated with raw sewage.
The region's underground infrastructure has received scant attention
until recently, some politicians and industry officials say. Now local
jurisdictions are trying to figure out how to update their systems and
how to pay for it.
In Maryland alone, the price tag is expected to be as high as $1
billion.
"We are sitting on a potential crisis in water and wastewater, and no
one is focusing on it because these pipes are underground - out of sight
and out of mind," said Ken Kirk, executive director of the Association
of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies. "People assume that they turn on the
tap and the water that comes out is going to be good; they flush the
toilet and assume it's going away. But these pipes are old - very, very
old."
In Northern Virginia, there were 842 spills between 1997 and May of
this year totaling more than 241 million gallons, according to the
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Maryland has had at least
2,340 spills since 1996, totaling almost 418 million gallons, according
to records at the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Spills are so routine in Cumberland, Md., that officials were
surprised when the state told them last fall that they had to start
notifying the public.
"Everyone was saying, 'Oh my God, there were 55 million gallons
spilled into the north branch of the Potomac last year by the city of
Cumberland," said Jeff Repp, the city administrator. "But that has been
going on for years. I guess people didn't think that in this day and age
this would happen. But it does."