The Green Towson Alliance unites Towson area environmentalists to achieve a greener, healthier, more beautiful community through collaboration and activism.
Green Towson Alliance is calling for this public hearing based on our ongoing investigation of the sanitary sewer system in Baltimore County, which began when we published our 2017 White Paper, “Is Sewage Contaminating Our Neighborhood Streams?”
In 2005, Baltimore County entered into a Consent Decree with Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) due to violations of the Clean Water Act – specifically the discharge of untreated sanitary sewage into our streams and rivers. In July 2025 a contract with the private law firm Beveridge & Diamond, PC was approved by the Baltimore County Council to assist the Office of Law with the negotiation of modifications to the 2005 Sanitary Sewer Consent Decree. The Office of Law was not asked a single question by Council members at the work session, and the contract for outside legal counsel was approved without discussion at the legislative session on July 7, 2025.
We deserve to know why raw sewage is still being discharged into open waters 20 years after the 2005 Sanitary Sewer Consent decree was signed and 5 years after the work to end sanitary sewer overflows was supposed to be completed.
Fourteen organizations that care about good governance, the environment and public health have signed-onto our letter asking Baltimore County Council to invite the Director of Public Works and Transportation (DPWT) and the County Attorney, as well as a representative of MDE, to appear before the Council to inform council members and the public about the claims by the EPA and MDE that the County is not complying with the terms and conditions of the 2005 Sanitary Sewer Overflow Consent Decree.
This is also an environmental justice issue. A portion of the sewage backing up in city basements, which disproportionately impacts black and low income families, is coming from the County. Baltimore City’s 2002 Sanitary Sewer Consent Decree was renegotiated in 2016 and is currently under review again. The systems are connected, with Baltimore County contributing up to 50% of the sewage passing through Baltimore City on its way to treatment plants. Our letter to the Baltimore County Council asks for a public hearing to end the appalling lack of transparency about the County’s failure to abide by the Consent Decree.
Green Towson alliance welcomes additional organizations that wish to sign-on to our letter to do so here. We will periodically update our cover letter to show additional groups that have joined the call for a public hearing.