Sewage

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -- The Warm Springs Public Service District's insurance company will pay for a Vernon Street family whose home was damaged by sewage to be housed at the Best Western through Jan. 16, homeowner Deborah Harris said. The family was helped initially by the American Red Cross. When the sewer department responded to a call Tuesday from Harris that raw sewage was gushing outside a blocked sewage pipe, department workers used 200 pounds of pressure to unclog it - a force that "flooded the home with sewage," Harris said.

gregs@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Health officials said they would continue to prohibit swimming in Antietam Creek today and would discourage other creek uses, two days after partially treated sewage was released into the creek. The City of Hagerstown Waste Water Treatment Plant off Frederick Street suffered a power outage Sunday between 6:20 a.m. and 11:40 a.m., releasing approximately 2.7 million gallons of water that had not been treated to kill bacteria, said City Water and Sewer Department Manager David Shindle.

Pretreated sewage overflowed from the Conococheague Waste Water Treatment Plant Wednesday morning and spilled into a tributary of Conococheague Creek, said Laurie Bucher, director of environmental health for the Washington County Health Department. Bucher said the overflow was minor and that fewer than 1,000 gallons of foamy sludge worked its way into an unnamed stream behind the plant. The overflow happened from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. She said crews posted signs along the streams and notified nearby residents of the overflow, but that the spill wasn't expected to cause any problems.

A "significant" amount of sewage spilled onto the towpath of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park sometime Wednesday night or Thursday morning, forcing part of the canal to be closed for ten days, according to Washington County Health Department and park officials. The spill, which occurred off Lockwood Road downstream from the Cushwa turning basin, happened because of a "triple failure" in a sewage system, said Brian Carlstrom, deputy superintendent of the C&O Canal National Historical Park.

An employee of the Washington County Department of Water Quality was treated at Washington County Hospital and released Tuesday after he fell about 3 feet into a channel of treated sewage, the department's director said. The man was cleaning the ultraviolet tubes from the Conococheague Wastewater Treatment Plant at 16232 Elliott Parkway when he slipped into the effluent channel, which empties into the Conococheague Creek, Director Greg Murray said. The employee, who Murray refused to identify because of an employee privacy policy, scraped his shin and side as he fell into the concrete channel, Murray said.

A Williamsport wastewater treatment plant pump station near the C&O Canal tow path failed earlier this week, spilling a “small amount” of sewage just south of the Cushwa Basin, according to Williamsport Mayor James G. McCleaf II. The mayor, who had few details about the incident when reached for comment Wednesday night, confirmed the incident near Lock 44 of the C&O Canal. The spill took place two days ago and since has been cleaned up, he said. McCleaf said the area, which is just off Lockwood Road near the Potomac River, remains cordoned off with yellow caution tape at this time, in accordance with regulations governing wastewater spills.

Utility work starting on Eastern Boulevard Utility installation along Eastern Boulevard at Opal Court in Hagerstown will begin tonight, causing some traffic inconveniences, according to a news release from the Hagerstown Engineering Department. The work will include street digging and installation of sewage pipes, officials said. Work will be done daily between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. until it is complete. Officials said the contractor is expected to finish Saturday, but the work could continue through next week if problems arise.

Due to sewer system upgrades, the 1400 block of The Terrace between Northern Avenue and Country Club Road in Hagerstown will be closed to vehicular traffic for three weeks beginning today, according to city officials. Work on the sewer lines is being done as part of a $3.3 million project to replace sewer lines that were allowing ground water and storm water to seep into the system. At times the seepage overloaded the system and caused sewage to back up into some North End homes or forced the city to pump sewage into Hamilton Run, a stream leading to Antietam Creek.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer The bad odor Hagerstown residents have detected the last few months might be gases leaking from a major collection pipe for untreated sewage, Mayor Steven T. Sager said Thursday. A crew will use a television camera in May to inspect the line, which runs underneath the old Municipal Electric Light Plant (MELP), said Water Pollution Control Department Manager Rick Thomas. Sager got the idea from remarks made by neighbors at a Wednesday night meeting concerning odor complaints.

Due to sewer system upgrades, Oak Hill Avenue north of Northern Avenue and behind the Long Meadow Shopping Center will be closed to vehicular traffic for approximately two weeks, city officials said Thursday. The road was closed Thursday. A detour will be posted at the road and access to local businesses and to St. Maria Goretti High School will be maintained, according to a statement from the city. The work on the sewer pipes under Oak Hill Avenue is part of a $3.3 million project to replace sewer lines that were allowing ground water and storm water to seep into the system.

The operator of a sewage treatment facility for a Falling Waters, W.Va., mobile home park has agreed to pay a $55,530 penalty for multiple water pollution violations, according to a proposed settlement announced Monday. The final settlement of an administrative consent order, which was  signed Thursday by Steven L. Rhoton of Williamsport, Md., is subject to comments received in a 30-day comment period that ends July 10, the state Department of Environmental Protection said in a public notice.

A sewage spill that occurred Tuesday afternoon at a Williamsport wastewater treatment plant pump station along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park downstream of the Cushwa turning basin was started by a power surge in the station, a town spokesman said Thursday. It was the second sewage spill at the site in a little more than a year. When the power surge occurred at about 12:10 p.m., it destroyed a control panel in the station, said town Clerk/Treasurer Donnie Stotelmyer.

A Williamsport wastewater treatment plant pump station near the C&O Canal tow path failed earlier this week, spilling a “small amount” of sewage just south of the Cushwa Basin, according to Williamsport Mayor James G. McCleaf II. The mayor, who had few details about the incident when reached for comment Wednesday night, confirmed the incident near Lock 44 of the C&O Canal. The spill took place two days ago and since has been cleaned up, he said. McCleaf said the area, which is just off Lockwood Road near the Potomac River, remains cordoned off with yellow caution tape at this time, in accordance with regulations governing wastewater spills.

In 1980, Shepherdstown opened its first public sewage treatment plant, and for the first time in the town's history, it stopped dumping raw sewage into the Potomac River. The town reached another milestone Friday, when it dedicated a new ultramodern, high-tech $10.1 million sewage treatment plant that doubles the capacity of the old plant to 800,000 gallons per day as well as meets new federal mandates to protect the Chesapeake Bay. West Virginia's eight easternmost counties are under the same mandate.

The continuing cost of excess water infiltrating town sewer lines surfaced again Tuesday night during a sometimes heated Smithsburg Town Council meeting. Councilman Troy Jernigan said the town paid $27,100 in December to treat excess water flowing into the system. And in November, Smithsburg paid $14,600 for the same problem, said Jernigan, who also raised the issue at a December council meeting. Jernigan expressed frustration Tuesday night with the town's response to the situation, especially since taxpayers are footing the bills.

A "significant" amount of sewage spilled onto the towpath of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park sometime Wednesday night or Thursday morning, forcing part of the canal to be closed for ten days, according to Washington County Health Department and park officials. The spill, which occurred off Lockwood Road downstream from the Cushwa turning basin, happened because of a "triple failure" in a sewage system, said Brian Carlstrom, deputy superintendent of the C&O Canal National Historical Park.

A planning official told Smithsburg town officials Tuesday night that sewer capacity will become a “precious” commodity in the future. Additional sewage capacity likely will become a pressing issue because there has been no “enhanced nutrient removal” upgrade for the town’s sewage plant, said Jill Baker, a town planner for Smithsburg. She suggested that the town partner with county government to make an upgrade to the plant so the town is able to get the sewage capacity it needs in coming years.

Calling it "a decent solution to a complicated problem," lawyer Sam Wiser told the Mercersburg Sewer Authority Thursday that sewage issues with the Findlay Park neighborhood are close to being resolved. When the power was turned off to a pumping station three times, sewage leaked from a manhole. Mercersburg borough officials said the developer, Dorsey Builders of Sykesville, Md., did not pay the electric bill. Borough public works employees have been filling a generator with diesel fuel and turning it on to move sewage through the system.

Findlay Park residents peppered the Mercersburg Borough Council with questions Monday regarding a sewage pumping station being operated with a generator after the developer of their subdivision stopped paying electric bills. Borough of Mercersburg public works employees have been filling the generator with diesel fuel and running it almost daily to move sewage through the system. Borough Manager Tammy Oberholzer said electricity was turned off to the pumping station by PPL three times after Dorsey Builders failed to pay the bill for the privately owned facility.

A Washington County pilot study of a wastewater treatment additive called BioMag has confirmed the magnetic mineral could save the county millions of dollars and inspired other jurisdictions to consider it as well, a county official reported Tuesday. The pilot study, which ran from July 2009 through June 2010, was conducted at the suggestion of the Maryland Department of the Environment, said Julie A. Pippel, director of the county Division of Environmental Management.  MDE officials had recently been introduced to the new technology and asked Washington County to study whether it could reduce the costs of upgrading wastewater treatment plants to comply with the state's new Enhanced Nutrient Removal standards, she said.