Estimated 300,000 gallons of sewage spill into Annapolis Spa Creek from broken pipe - Capital Gazette

Estimated 300,000 gallons of sewage spill into Annapolis Spa Creek from broken pipe

A sewer system leak dumped 300,000 gallons of sewage into the upper reaches of Spa Creek over the weekend, Annapolis city officials said Tuesday.

Visitors to the Chesapeake Children’s Museum spotted sewage gushing from a manhole cover Friday, said Ruben Davila, a manager at the 5-acre park and nature center on Silopanna Road near Truxtun Park. Museum employees then called the city.

According to a timeline from the city’s Department of Public Works, crews were onsite working at “an active sewer overflow” near Merryman Lane by 11:30 a.m. on Friday. The Maryland Department of the Environment and Anne Arundel County Department of Health were both notified. By 5:30 p.m., workers identified the blockage, and state inspectors requested that more lime be dumped into the area to help absorb odors and wastewater.

“It smelled like a Port-a-Potty down here,” Davila said, standing onshore about 100 yards downstream from the blown manhole cover. Just across the water, cabin cruisers and sailboats owned by residents of Spa Drive and Spa View Avenue bobbed in the creek.

Afternoon Update

There was so much sewage that four days after the spill water levels near the nature center are still “the highest they’ve been,” Davila said. Typically someone could wade across the clear creek and see to the bottom, he said.

The repairs lasted all weekend. Friday evening, workers identified a crack in a sewer pipeline. The sewer lines run above ground and even above the water in the area, and city workers had to build a pipe bypass around the crack, according to the timeline.

But Saturday morning, the sewer line clogged again. Public works “checked the pump for the bypass on the sewer line at Heritage Court as well as the manholes downstream.” All manholes were clear and the line flow was good, the timeline says. A full repair was complete by 4 p.m. Monday. That evening, public works evaluated daily sewage volume and upped its estimate of the leak to “in the range of 300,000 gallons.”

The city initially advised residents to avoid water in the area for 72 hours, but the county health department issued a “no contact” warning until Sept. 2. Signs were posted in the area by county health officials to avoid touching the brown, murky water. Any residents who come into contact with water in the area should “wash well with soap and warm water immediately,” according to Tuesday’s notice.

Davilla credited the Spa Creek Conservancy’s recent efforts to plant native grasses along the shoreline with helping to naturally mitigate effects of the sewage leak. Water quality has improved during the four years he’s worked at the museum, helping children identify red-eared sliders, great blue herons, bald eagles and other maritime fauna that make their homes on Spa Creek. Eventually, the museum would like to convert its sloping outdoor amphitheater into a miniature beach for kids.

But Davila now wonders whether those plans are compatible with the city’s sewer system. He worries that the concrete patches on the manhole won’t hold, or that the above-ground sewage pipes – which jogging midshipmen enjoy traversing like Simon Biles on a balance beam – are too fragile for the Spa Creek ecosystem.

“The water is definitely getting cleaner,” Davila said, “but all the little setbacks need to be addressed.”