SNOW HILL – Worcester County will pay $16,686 in fines related to sewer overflows from 2017-2021.
The Worcester County Commissioners on Tuesday agreed to pay $16,686 to the Maryland Department of the Environmental (MDE) to settle 15 sanitary sewer overflow violation fines. Though there were 23 overflows between January 2017 and December 2021, they weren’t all subject to fines.
“They ruled out the weather-related items and the outside contractor related items,” Public Works Director Dallas Baker said.
In January, MDE asked Worcester County for the reports from 23 sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) events. Baker said his staff went back and looked through their records, as every time there is an overflow the county has to submit a letter to MDE explaining the issue and detailing steps being taken to address it.
“Sometimes it’s something like a valve breaks, a pipe bursts,” Baker said. “Sometimes a contractor drills a hole through one of our lines and sometimes there’s an overflow due to weather.”
That Stinks man