The (inconvenient) Truth About No Discharge Zones: August 2014

Friday, August 29, 2014

Maryland: August downpour results in sewage overflow of 12 million gallons (Baltimore Sun)

Three previously unreported overflows add to total from Aug. 12 rainstorm

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-08-22/features/bs-md-sewage-20140822_1_overflows-sewage-jones-falls

Baltimore city officials belatedly disclosed Friday that sewage overflows topped 12 million gallons during last week's downpour, four times what had previously been acknowledged. It was the most untreated waste reported spilled in the city in a single day since 2006, according to state records.

The great farce of NDZ

It is already illegal for vessels of any type to discharge raw sewage (unless offshore -ocean- by 3 or more miles) into US waterways. The only parties who get away with dumping raw sewage are municipalities who's waste treatment systems overflow or malfunction (some at an alarmingly regular rate, like every time it rains). What's at stake here are on-board treatment systems. Systems that output treated waste that is many, many times cleaner than what a waste treatment plant discharges. In the words of the Maryland Attorney General's office; on-board treatment systems account for less than .1% of any water quality issues (actually, less than .003% to be exact)! Yet, supporters of NDZ legislation want to criminalize their use.