Residents of Dundalk, Maryland, say a powerful sewage odour from the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant has made it difficult to leave their homes, eat local crabs or enjoy time outdoors.
Angry locals confronted officials at a town hall meeting on Thursday night, where complaints focused on the continuing smell and concerns about what they may be breathing.
John Zaganas, a Dundalk resident, said the odour was comparable to a severe bathroom blockage.
“The stench is so bad. Imagine the worst possible backup you’ve had in your bathroom, that’s what it smells like in our neighborhoods,” he told WBALTV 11.
Another resident said the smell had become so intense that it was affecting their ability to sit outside, while parts of the meeting reportedly descended into shouting.
“It was in my throat so bad the other day that we could not even sit outside,” the resident said.
The Maryland Department of the Environment has linked the problem to a series of operational failures at the treatment plant dating back to May, according to an inspection report.
The report identified excess sludge stored in lagoon tanks that had not been properly processed, as well as high pollutant discharge levels that may be contributing to the odour.
Residents also said the smell had affected fishing and their use of outdoor spaces.
“You can’t have crabs, nothing in your yards. This Labor Day weekend was horrible,” Tracey McCullough said.
Zaganas said locals felt they had been left to deal with the problem for too long.
“They just don’t care about us. It’s been going on for years now, and it hasn’t been every day, but it’s enough to where it’s scary down here now. I don’t know what we’re breathing in, and I don’t know what we’re gonna get from it,” he said.
The environment department ordered the plant to make improvements, including the immediate removal of accumulated waste and the clearance of all sewage sludge by September 1.
Delegate Robert Long, a Republican member of the Maryland House of Representatives, urged residents to appeal their property tax bills while they waited for the outcome of the inspection.
“At this point, I think we need to go this route. If someone else wants to go with a lawsuit, that’s fine, but the thing with this, we are suing the city, which will cost taxpayers’ money,” Long said.
He has also sought assistance from officials in the Philadelphia region of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“I would like to invite the mayor to come down here and like the governor come down here and see if they want to live down here. People can’t open their windows. They can’t eat. I mean it’s affecting businesses. It’s got to be fixed,” Long said.
The Baltimore City Department of Public Works said it had drawn up a comprehensive odour-control plan in response to complaints. Officials are awaiting an engineer’s assessment of the plant’s odour-control systems, with results expected by the end of the year or early January.
Baltimore County Department of Public Works officials said they meet twice a week with the city and the Maryland Department of the Environment to monitor the area.
A county spokesperson said a daily monitoring programme had been introduced at sewage pumping stations near the plant, but that no odour problems had been identified there.
The Maryland Department of the Environment said it would continue monitoring the facility and investigating residents’ concerns to ensure the plant meets environmental standards.
