Upgrade at Cox Creek treatment plant is done
Anne Arundel’s largest public works project, at $141 million, has taken seven years to complete
Anne Arundel County officials this week marked completion of the county’s most expensive construction project in history — one that officials say will lead to some of the greatest improvements to local waterways.
Curtis Bay’s Cox Creek sewage treatment plant on Monday began running wastewater through an upgraded system designed to dramatically reduce the pollutants the plant releases back into the creek, according to Department of Public Works Director Chris Phipps.
Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, County Executive Steve Schuh, Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles and other state and local officials marked the milestone, which caps a decade of planning and construction, with a tour of the plant Wednesday.
The bulk of the $141 million project was paid for by money collected through the state’s “flush fee,” officially called the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund.
Ehrlich and state legislators created the fund in 2004 to pay for improvements to wastewater treatment plants throughout the state.
The county funded the remaining cost —about $48 million.
Ehrlich said the restoration fund, which was controversial when it passed, has paid off. The Republican, who now lives in Annapolis, served as governor from 2003 to 2007.
“We knew it would make a better Maryland in the future,” he said. “If you want to keep eating Maryland crabs, this is what you have to do.”
Officials say the upgraded Cox Creek Water Reclamation Facility will reduce nitrogen discharge into the bay by about 360,000 pounds of nitrogen a year and cut phosphorus discharge from about 3 milligrams per liter of water to 0.3 milligrams per liter. Both nutrients contribute to algae growth in waterways, which in turn can block sunlight, killing underwater grasses that serve as a habitat for wildlife and provide the dissolved oxygen that is necessary for their survival.
Treated water released by the plant is now theoretically clean enough to drink, said Cox Creek’s senior project manager, Richard Meehan. That’s thanks to newly installed membranes — ropes that filter even microscopic oil and bacteria particles out of wastewater as it cycles through the plant.
The new technology made it possible
Curtis Bay’s Cox Creek sewage treatment plant on Monday began running wastewater through an upgraded system designed to dramatically reduce the pollutants the plant releases back into the creek, according to Department of Public Works Director Chris Phipps.
Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, County Executive Steve Schuh, Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles and other state and local officials marked the milestone, which caps a decade of planning and construction, with a tour of the plant Wednesday.
The bulk of the $141 million project was paid for by money collected through the state’s “flush fee,” officially called the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund.
Ehrlich and state legislators created the fund in 2004 to pay for improvements to wastewater treatment plants throughout the state.
The county funded the remaining cost —about $48 million.
Ehrlich said the restoration fund, which was controversial when it passed, has paid off. The Republican, who now lives in Annapolis, served as governor from 2003 to 2007.
“We knew it would make a better Maryland in the future,” he said. “If you want to keep eating Maryland crabs, this is what you have to do.”
Officials say the upgraded Cox Creek Water Reclamation Facility will reduce nitrogen discharge into the bay by about 360,000 pounds of nitrogen a year and cut phosphorus discharge from about 3 milligrams per liter of water to 0.3 milligrams per liter. Both nutrients contribute to algae growth in waterways, which in turn can block sunlight, killing underwater grasses that serve as a habitat for wildlife and provide the dissolved oxygen that is necessary for their survival.
Treated water released by the plant is now theoretically clean enough to drink, said Cox Creek’s senior project manager, Richard Meehan. That’s thanks to newly installed membranes — ropes that filter even microscopic oil and bacteria particles out of wastewater as it cycles through the plant.
The new technology made it possible
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