By Greg Ellison

Worcester officials detail leaky water holding tanks background, core problems

(March 19, 2020) Tracking cases of leaky groundwater holding tanks and previewing pending budget requests were principal points presented during the Ocean Pines Service Area Water and Wastewater Advisory Board meeting on Monday.

Board member Jack Collins praised the presentation about treated effluent made by Worcester County Deputy Director of Public Works John Ross during a town hall meeting the prior week.

“He made a knowledgeable presentation and covered lots of territory,” he said.

Board member Fred Stiehl asked about an instance involving raw sewage overflow seeping into yards raised at the town hall meeting.

Ross said the incident in question occurred on Aug. 13, 2017 during a period of extreme precipitation and the Maryland Department of the Environment received a written complaint the next day.

“For that entire week we had over eight inches of rain,” he said.

In light of concerns about leaking water holding tanks Ross noted the earlier flooding incident occurred over a weekend with inspectors unable to investigate the issue until the following day.

“By the time our crews got there, getting into Monday, there was no issue,” he said.

Collins recalled the time period in question presented atypical levels of rainfall.

“Front yards were under water … it was ridiculous.,” he said.

Ultimately, MDE inspectors had issued a clean bill of health for the site in question, Ross said.

In terms of addressing leaky water holding tanks, Ross said seepage occurs internally, not externally, due to vacuum lines.

“Water is coming in, not out because of vacuum,” he said.

Board member

Worcester County Deputy Director of Public Works John Ross and Water and Wastewater Division Administrative Assistant Meg Etzler, top, discuss pending fiscal budget requests with Ocean Pines Service Area Water and Wastewater Advisory Board members, from left, Greg Sauter, Fred Stiehl via telephone and Jack Collins during the groups meeting on Monday.

said the matter had confused numerous residents who mistakenly thought the issue concerned outflow.

“People are thinking sewage is leaking out of the tank and that’s not the case,” he said. “We’re pulling ground water into our system and making the [wastewater treatment] plant less productive.”

In many instances, water holding tank walls are breached by tree roots, Ross said.

“Generally, we get calls about lines draining slowly,” he said.

Substantial cases of tanks overflowing would raise other alarms intended to direct required corrective measures.

“If we have a major leaking tank, it’s causing us operational problems,” he said. “We have all tanks monitored by operators.”

Stiehl said if the issue is a major problem, it needs to be remedied in a reasonable time.

“We need to understand how comfortably we can say this is a rare occurrence,” he said.

Collins concurred, and requested data about the number of problematic tanks and any cases of raw sewage seepage.

Ross said he would return with the statistics at the next advisory board meeting.

Turning to pending budget matters, Ross said the Water and Wastewater Division would present financial requests to the Worcester County Commissioners on March 31.

Contingent on securing bond funding, the county is looking to repaint the north water tower in Ocean Pines, Ross said.

“We got a signed contract [and] hope to schedule a pre-construction meeting this week,” he said.

The process includes draining and sand blasting the water tank.

“We’re not anticipating any internal repairs,” he said.

After fresh paint is applied, the tank will require disinfecting, Ross said.

“It has to be repainted without water in it,” he said.

Ross said the project would begin pending funding approval

“It can take 60 or more days and obviously you can’t paint outside all time so we’re trying to get started as quickly as we can,” he said.