Maryland approves $29 million in grants for septic, wastewater upgrades to reduce pollution

Maryland will provide more than $29 million in grants to upgrade wastewater treatment plants and septic systems, improve sewer systems, and restore stream banks to reduce pollution to the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers.

As much as $8.9 million will go toward Bay Restoration Fund grants to upgrade septic systems with nitrogen-reducing technology. Traditional septic systems do not remove nitrogen, instead delivering about 30 pounds of the pollutant each year to groundwater. Upgraded septic systems reduce nitrogen pollution discharges by half.

The La Plata wastewater treatment plant and the Broadneck water reclamation facility will both receive Bay Restoration Fund grants to implement Enhanced Nutrient Removal. After the upgrades, the facilities will reduce their nitrogen discharge by 62.5 percent. The La Plata wastewater treatment plant will receive $8.8 million and the Broadneck water reclamation facility will receive $7.5 million.

Other funded projects include:

• Fixing an existing wastewater collection system near Braddock Run in Allegany County
• Improvements to the combined sewer overflow system in Cumberland
• Restoring three severely eroded stream banks along the Back River shoreline
• Stabilizing and restoring two streams that discharge to Prince Georges County’s Greenbelt Lake
• Providing public sewer to a community in St. Mary’s County where many septic systems are failing