Maryland halts shelfish harvesting in Chesapeake Bay

Going back just a few posts, you'll find we originally mentioned this very same issue in September, 2022.  The problem predates even then, but it may be getting worse.  Where is Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and the state of Maryland?  Who is going to be held responsible?  Heck, are they ever going to fix it?

 From the quality reporting at WTOP:

Maryland temporarily halts shellfish harvesting in part of Chesapeake Bay

7.2 Million Gallons from Brevard County, FL

Hurricane or not, that's a huge amount of rawz untreated waste into the environment.  And this is just one county in one state Hurricane Ian impacted. 

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/environment/lagoon/2022/09/30/brevard-county-spills-7-2-million-gallons-highly-treated-sewage-into-indian-river-lagoon/8137922001/

Fresh water bodies get a lot of poop, too - Ann Arbor, MI

1.4 MILLION GALLONS.  That's some serious $hit!

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2022/10/ann-arbor-system-failure-sends-14m-gallons-of-sewage-into-huron-river.html

Baltimore still can't get their $hit together.

More ongoing municipal waste water treatment issues with discharge into Baltimore County's Back Creek (I think that is considered Baltimore County, but it is Baltimore City's waste and responsibility, regardless).

 From WTOP New and Maryland Matters

A nicely written human interest story from Maryland Matters about this issue:

Pollution crisis at the water plant

“There needs to be signage warning the public that the area is known to have unsafe levels of bacteria and to avoid contact with the water, particularly during the 48 hours after a rain.”"

 From WTOP:

A massive new sewer tunnel in Alexandria hopes to clean up the Potomac

This is, of course, a very good thing the city of Alexandria is doing.  It is also a well-written article.  But, what caught my eye the most are the facts and figures included:

“about 140 million gallons of combined sewer overflows occur each year in Alexandria...That sewage is loaded with bacteria, nitrogen and phosphorus, which impacts the water quality of the Potomac River in the Chesapeake Bay.

"The overall cost of the project is a whopping $615 million."

"[The tunnel] will bring that mixture to the wastewater treatment plant where it will be treated and then discharged into the Potomac."

140 million gallons per year!  Think about how much that is times all the other cities (like DC!) on or around the Potomac and how much all the marine toilets in the area could possibly put out.  There is no comparison.  So why are the "environmental" groups so hung up on outlawing marine treatment systems?  Aren't the goals actually the same; to treat and release sewage to protect the environment?  How is one "treat and release" better than another?  The anti-boaters will say that marine systems do not treat waste as well as municipal plants. This is a lie as the facts prove when figures are compared.  The unit I use requires the same chemical tablet that is sold by the truckload to municipal plants (I went shopping for it but don't want to order by the pallet).  The answer is both control (they LOVE telling other people what to do) and expense.  They are so hung up on control they want your poop!  Think about it; this is just one city that is taking action at a cost of $615,000,000.  What about Baltimore?  What about Annapolis?  What about Cambridge?  What are they discharging and how?  What will it cost to fix those aging, overwhelmed systems?

Maryland's Back Creek is now a Black Creek (or is that "Brown Creek").

More trouble in the paradise of poop, er, Maryland.  Yet another government source of human waste flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.

Baltimore Sun Article 

Marathon, FL USA

Yet another failure of "No Discharge Zone" legislation.  In the Florida Keys it is illegal for a boat to treat their waste and discharge via a USCG approved Marine Sanitation System (Type I or Type II).  So what is one forced to do; pump it out at a marina where it goes to a government facility and then they can discharge it raw into the surrounding waters.  I guess poop from government doesn't stink?

https://lawstreetmedia.com/news/agriculture/environmental-group-sues-city-of-marathon-fla-for-dumping-sewage-into-the-florida-keys/