$13 Million White Marsh Run Infrastructure Project Breaks Ground

Baltimore County officially broke ground Wednesday on a $13 million infrastructure investment to correct a recurring sewage overflow problem in White Marsh Run, a tributary of Bird River and the Chesapeake Bay, according to a statement from Baltimore County.

For more than twenty years, a 27-inch diameter sewer line has been prone to overflowing in the stream, the statement said. White Marsh Run travels parallel to White Marsh Boulevard, according to the statement.

“When it rains—especially in a place like White Marsh with a lot of buildings and paved areas—the rain rushes down storm drains into our streams,” County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said, creating a “torrent of pollution” that impacts waterways.

The project will include the following measures, according to the county:

• Replacing 800 feet of sewer pipeline with a 30-inch diameter pipe
• Stabilizing bed and banks of White Marsh Run
• Relocating 6,300 feet of severely eroded stream channel
• Creating and protecting wetlands

The remediation work will transform the stream’s banks “from virtual cliffs of dirt into more natural floodplains that hold the water and absorb nutrients and pollution,” Kamenetz said.

As a result, pollutants will be reduced in the Bird River and Chesapeake Bay, the statement from the county said.

The $13 million project is being financed using bonds and funds from Baltimore County’s Metropolitan District budget, which supports improvements to public water and wastewater infrastructure.

Work is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

Photo Credit: Baltimore County Government. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, County Council Chair Cathy Bevins and community leaders Bob Bendler and Dot Hinnant jointed Baltimore County staff and community members on Wednesday, Sept. 24, to officially break ground on the White Marsh Run restoration initiative.