Public Works Project Will Help Minimize Baltimore's 10-Mile Underground Sewage Backup

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It's not just a foul-smelling eyesore. Raw sewage flowing into Baltimore's harbor is also a risk to human health.

The source is a clogged underground pipe leading into the city's Back River Sewage Treatment Plant. Heavy rains release millions of gallons of sewage into Baltimore waterways per year.

"Ten miles of sewage beneath our streets, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," says Adam Lindquist, director of the Healthy Harbor Initiative. "This project is going to fix that problem."

Called the Headworks Project, it will basically act like a huge sump pump.

"We'll have very powerful pumps constantly pulling that sewage into the plant so that it doesn't back up into the pipe," according to Department of Public Works spokesman Jeffrey Raymond.

Once inside the plant, sewage will be properly treated before being released.

"This is going to be a solution that reduces by more than 80 percent the volume of sewer overflows way back into the city," Raymond says.

It will cost more than $400 million and is scheduled for completion in 2020.

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