Samantha Kappalman Jay Apperson Board of Public Works Approves Funding For Clean Water and the Chesapeake Bay<\/strong> BALTIMORE, MD (February 5, 2014) –\u00a0<\/strong>The Maryland Board of Public Works approved more than $35 million in funding today to upgrade sewage treatment plants and septic systems, improve wetlands and reduce polluted stormwater runoff. The Board is composed of Governor Martin O\u2019Malley, Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot.<\/p>\n \u201cProjects such as these are an important part of our effort to improve Maryland waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay,\u201d said Governor O\u2019Malley. \u201cThese projects reduce pollution and protect the environment and public health\u00a0while creating jobs for more Marylanders.\u201d<\/p>\n The following projects were approved today:<\/p>\n Northeast River Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant Enhanced Nutrient Removal Upgrade project \u2013 Cecil County<\/strong><\/p>\n Funding of $31,856,120 \u2013 a $10,977,120 Bay Restoration Fund grant and an estimated $20,879,000 Water Quality State Revolving Loan Fund loan \u2013 to Cecil County will help fund the multiple-phase planning, design and construction of Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) facilities at the 2 million gallons per day Northeast River Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. After the upgrades, the facility will reduce its nitrogen discharge by 62.5 percent, significantly reducing the amount of nutrients discharged to the Northeast River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. Excessive amounts of nutrients\u00a0such as\u00a0nitrogen and phosphorus lead to lowered levels of oxygen needed to support aquatic life in waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay. Enhanced Nutrient Removal upgrades of the state\u2019s major wastewater treatment plants are a critical component of Maryland\u2019s Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan.<\/p>\n Queenstown Wastewater Treatment Plant Biological Nutrient Removal and Enhanced Nutrient Removal Upgrade project \u2013 Queen Anne\u2019s County<\/strong><\/p>\n Funding of $2,265,896 \u2013 an $880,929 Bay Restoration Fund grant and a $1,384,967 Chesapeake Water Quality Projects grant \u2013 to the Town of Queenstown will help fund the planning, design and construction of Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) and Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) upgrades and the expansion of the Queenstown Wastewater Treatment Plant from its existing capacity of 85,000 gallons per day to 180,000 gallons per day. After the upgrades, the facility will reduce its nitrogen discharge by 83 percent and its phosphorus discharge by 90 percent, significantly reducing the amount of nutrients discharged to the Lower Chester River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. Excessive amounts of nutrients\u00a0such as\u00a0nitrogen and phosphorus lead to lowered levels of oxygen needed to support aquatic life in waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay. Enhanced Nutrient Removal upgrades of the state\u2019s major wastewater treatment plants are a critical component of Maryland\u2019s Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan.<\/p>\n Church Creek project \u2013 Anne Arundel County<\/strong><\/p>\n A $508,900 Water Quality State Revolving Loan Fund green grant to the Chesapeake Bay Trust will help fund the Church Creek project. The project entails the creation of several acres of non-tidal wetlands to reduce erosion and sediment and nutrient pollution in Church Creek and South River.<\/p>\n Upgrade Septic Systems \u2013 Baltimore County<\/strong><\/p>\n A $170,000 Bay Restoration Fund grant to Baltimore County will provide funding to upgrade on-site sewage disposal (septic) systems with best available technology to significantly reduce the discharge of nitrogen, one of the most serious pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay. The septics upgrade program is implemented by local jurisdictions. Counties will focus on upgrading septic systems located within the Critical Area. A typical septic system that does not remove nitrogen delivers about 23 pounds of nitrogen per year to the groundwater. An upgraded, nitrogen-removing septic system cuts a system\u2019s nitrogen load at least in half.<\/p>\n Jones Falls Stream Corridor Enhancement at Mt. Vernon Mills project \u2013 Baltimore City<\/strong><\/p>\n A $100,664 Water Quality State Revolving Loan Fund green grant to Terra Nova Ventures, LLC, will help fund the Jones Falls Stream Corridor Enhancement at Mt. Vernon Mills project. The project entails new management and treatment of on-site stormwater, restoration of riparian habitat and stream restoration techniques to reinstate the natural character of the water flow.<\/p>\n Twin Cities Wastewater Treatment Plant Biological Nutrient Removal and Enhanced Nutrient Removal Upgrades project \u2013 Dorchester County<\/strong><\/p>\n A $50,000 Bay Restoration Fund grant to the Town of Secretary will help fund the planning and design of Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) and Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) upgrades at the Twin Cities Wastewater Treatment Plant at an approved design capacity of 281,000 gallons per day. After the upgrades, the facility will reduce its nitrogen discharge by 83 percent and its phosphorus discharge by 90 percent, significantly reducing the amount of nutrients discharged to the Choptank River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. Excessive amounts of nutrients\u00a0such as\u00a0nitrogen and phosphorus lead to lowered levels of oxygen needed to support aquatic life in waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay. Enhanced Nutrient Removal upgrades of the state\u2019s major wastewater treatment plants are a critical component of Maryland\u2019s Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan.<\/p>\n # # #<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MEDIA CONTACTS: Samantha Kappalman samantha.kappalman@maryland.gov Jay Apperson jay.apperson@maryland.gov FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Board of Public Works Approves Funding For Clean Water and the Chesapeake Bay Grants and loans will reduce pollution, improve wetlands \u00a0 BALTIMORE, MD (February 5, 2014) –\u00a0The Maryland Board of Public Works approved more than $35 million in funding today to upgrade sewage Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clean-water-2","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>samantha.kappalman@maryland.gov<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>jay.apperson@maryland.gov<\/a><\/p>\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<\/h4>\n
\n<\/em>Grants and loans will reduce pollution, improve wetlands \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n