Area's Sewers Lead to Chesapeake Woes

Area's sewers lead to Chesapeake woes

Unchecked plants affect wildlife, vegetation in bay

By By LAURA GIOVANELLI Dispatch/Sunday News

Watermen call them crab jubilees.

Blue crabs cling to the sides of traps, then scramble and clatter onto jetties and docks.

Despite the name, the crabs have nothing to celebrate. They're trying to get out of the water because they're choking. The bay water has too little oxygen.

Industry and agriculture are to blame, scientists and bay activists say.

But there's also a more personal source, they say: Every toilet flush in YorkCounty homes, businesses and schools also has a direct impact on the bay.

All downhill: The path from the Codorus Creek and the Susquehanna River to the Chesapeake Bay is long.

But about 80 miles from the York, scientists and activists say, nitrogen washed off land and discharged into streams in Pennsylvania is helping choke the bay -- using up the oxygen the crabs, fish, grasses and other natural inhabitants need to survive.

In farm fields, nitrogen fertilizes the ground, helping crops to grow. In the bay, it does the same thing to algae.

"Algae are just like little plants," said YorkCollege professor and marine biologist Jessica Nolan. "They need light and nutrients, so basically when you add more fertilizer the phytoplankton grows."

But as algae grow, they use up oxygen. Some also produce lethal toxins. And when they die and decompose, the algae further harm fish, crabs and grasses by using up more oxygen.

In early July, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists saw a 100-mile-long "dead zone" -- a stretch of water without enough oxygen to support fish and crabs -- the fifth largest since the bay was first monitored 20 years ago.

Two years of drought followed by a year of rain meant more water than ever rushing into the bay, carrying pollutants, including nitrogen.

Bay activists have known for more than two decades that nitrogen is the bay's worst single source of pollution, with Pennsylvania the watershed's biggest contributor.

About a third of the overall pollution comes from runoff from fertilized farm fields, prompting myriad state initiatives for local farmers.

Sewage treatment: But another 20 percent comes from places bay activists say are far easier to regulate: sewage treatment plants.

Currently, however, there are no state or federal regulations limiting nitrogen discharges by sewer plants, although Pennsylvania sewer plants south of Duncannon, where the Juniata and Susquehanna meet, must comply with limits on the amount of phosphorus they can discharge. Phosphorus is another nutrient that feeds algae growth, according to state Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Tom Rathbun.

While the state is pushing for further restrictions on farm runoff, the focus on sewage treatment plants has been more what DEP supervisor and water quality program specialist John Murtha calls "the icing on the cake."

Only recently did the state organize a committee to investigate such nutrient reduction, Rathbun said.

Meanwhile, a report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation last month indicates Pennsylvania released 11.7 million pounds of nitrogen into the bay last year from its largest 123 sewer plants.

Discharges from only 23 were at levels the foundation called acceptable -- and none were in YorkCounty, although several here came close.

Total discharge from the county's nine largest plants ranks it sixth among Pennsylvania counties in nitrogen discharges into the bay.

And the county's two largest plants -- YorkCity and SpringettsburyTownship -- contribute 6.2 percent of the state's total.

York's plants: Of the nine YorkCounty treatment plants included in the study, some, like the Northeastern York County Sewer Authority Plant and one in FairviewTownship, discharge nitrogen at levels much higher than the bay foundation says is acceptable.

YorkCity's plant, the largest in the county, has the fifth-highest levels in the county, although the city recently applied for a $95,000 state grant to study new technology that would reduce its nitrogen discharge levels, said plant manger Steve Douglas.

He doesn't know what it would cost to upgrade the entire plant, however.

At the other end of the spectrum, Dover's joined Springettsbury in releasing nitrogen at levels the foundation calls nearly acceptable.

The second largest treatment plant in YorkCounty, Springettsbury serves nine surrounding municipalities.

There, sewage from homes, businesses and schools is piped into deep pools. Massive fans whirl oxygen into the dirty water, and by the time it comes out the other end, it should be clean.

In Springettsbury, as at most treatment plants, nitrogen-converting bacteria attack ammonia molecules, breaking them down into smaller nitrogen compounds before they are released.

But plants like Springettsbury -- last renovated in 1984 -- use more advanced processes to reduce the nitrogen compounds to the point they eventually dissipate as harmless gas.

Local sewer plant managers expect Pennsylvania will eventually regulate the nitrogen coming from sewer plants.

Protecting the bay's fisheries and tourism has become a matter of financial importance for the states that surround it, Mark Hodgkinson, director of wastewater management in SpringettsburyTownship, said.

"Virginia and Maryland rely on it very heavily. It's inevitable at some point there's going to be an initiative," he said.

But until then, Douglas doubts plants will upgrade their processes.

"Treatment plants only do what they have to do," he said. "Townships aren't going to go out there and put this on the forefront because of the cost issue."

Pennsylvania's role: And that may be in the works.

In an agreement three years ago, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia were among the Chesapeake watershed states that pledged to reduce bay nitrogen pollution 40 percent by 2010.

The states have also begun to develop plans that would be the first step toward official nitrogen and phosphorus regulations written into every sewage treatment plant's permit, said Allison Wiedeman, technology coordinator for EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program.

By the end of the decade, she said, 43 of Pennsylvania's largest sewage plants should have nitrogen and phosphorus reducing technology.

It may not solve the all bay's problems, she admitted, but she thinks it will help.

In Maryland, Gov. Robert Ehrlich has promised $1 billion to upgrade the state's largest treatment plants.

But so far in Pennsylvania, there's only a limited number of grants available -- about $4 million this year -- for municipal treatment plants to upgrade their facilities and reduce nitrogen levels.

"There isn't a whole lot of money to go around even for normal regulations," Murtha said.

Costly fix: Statewide, bringing sewer plant discharges within what the foundation calls acceptable levels would require billions of dollars; costs would depend on a treatment plant's size.

Rip Copithorn, an engineer with environmental engineering firm Stearnes and Wheler, estimates that a plant YorkCity's size could cost between $24 million and $40 million to upgrade the plant so that it outputs what the foundation calls an acceptable level of nutrients.

The average cost per household for the work would likely be between $5 and $14 a year, Chesapeake Bay Foundation attorney Bill Gerlach says.

In addition to now offering grants, DEP representatives travel throughout the state, holding workshops for municipal officials and trying to get them to make voluntary reductions before nitrogen is regulated, Murtha said.

But it will take more than local education to save the bay, Gerlach says.

"We think there is a legal duty there," Gerlach said. "What's tough in Pennsylvania is getting political awareness.

"There needs to be more of commitment in order to put pressure on state and federal government. If a drop of water falls over half the state, it will end up in the Chesapeake Bay." Laura Giovanelli can be reached at .