Your recent editorial on water quality in the Inner Harbor and its tributaries ignores both geography and history ("The Inner Harbor's latest 'F,'" May 9). Regional water quality does not go from A to F when crossing geographic boundaries. It mostly goes from F to F, meaning that pollutants are already in the headwaters before they reach Baltimore.
Baltimore's sewer system was state of the art when city leaders broke ground on it 110 years ago. But environmental awareness in 1906 was not the same as it is now. The system was designed to allow for the overflow of sewage into the streams and harbor when rainwater entered the manholes during deluges. This was done to prevent overwhelming the treatment plant and to prevent back-up of sewage into homes. But that "solution" is not acceptable in the 21st century.
At the Department of Public Works, we are redesigning a system that was built around the same time the Wright Brothers were giving their first public demonstrations of powered flight. Our first task was to see exactly what had transpired during those 100 years. We discovered a lot. Private developers Jerry-rigged sewers. Hidden overflows came to light. Then in 2010, just six years ago and well into the consent decree, we found that the flow from the massive sewer line into the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant hit a roadblock. Until that was corrected, we could not bring the rest of the sewer system into compliance.
The department immediately began drawing up the plans for this correction at Back River, called the Headworks project. We knew we had to move forward with this, even though it would cost hundreds of millions of additional dollars to construct. When completed in 2020, it will enable us to close the last of the structured overflows and result in more than 80 percent reduction of wastewater pollution.
While that project is happening, Baltimore has taken dramatic steps in lining and replacing our existing sewer system. You can see this taking place in every part of town. We are also addressing sewer problems on a micro-level through our sewer lateral program, our FOG (fats, oils and grease) program, our tree root control program and others.
We are addressing trash in our waterways through city-wide street-sweeping, new municipal trash cans provided to every resident, new inlet screens on storm drains, skimmer boats in the harbor and much more.
The Baltimore City Department of Public Works is proud of the steps we are taking to improve our waterways. Yes, we live in an era where we expect instant results, but fixing a 110-year-old system takes logical steps, extensive engineering and solid construction. We are moving forward toward a cleaner harbor. The dramatic result will not be instant but it will be soon.
Rudy S. Chow, Baltimore
The writer is director of the Baltimore City Department of Public Works.