The proliferation of sewage backups in Baltimore is a result of aging wastewater infrastructure and the city’s 2002 Consent Decree with the Environmental Protection Agency. The federal agreement required the city to close off sewer overflow pipes that released raw sewage into streams and rivers. The decree did not fund infrastructure improvements that would prevent stormwater from leaking into sewage pipes, however, so the overburdened sewers instead began to overflow into residents’ basements.
In April 2018, the EPA and Maryland Department of the Environment agreed to a Modified Consent Decree that required Baltimore City to launch an Expedited Reimbursement Program through the Department of Public Works (DPW) to help mitigate the clean-up costs for residents following a basement sewage back-up. However, during the program’s first year, less than two percent of households reporting basement sewage back-ups using 311 applied for reimbursement through the program and only ten households actually received a reimbursement (Dance 2019).
There are many reasons to be concerned about both the financial and health burdens associated with basement sewer backups and possible disparities in the city’s response. Previous analyses have revealed that backups in Baltimore City are more likely to occur in majority-Black neighborhoods, indicating an environmental injustice (Ezell 2018). The financial and health burdens associated with basement sewer backups are likely to be more severe for low-income households that may lack adequate property insurance coverage or the resources to hire a private cleanup company. In addition, Blue Water Baltimore and other advocates have highlighted how limited public education about the reimbursement program, a strict 24-hour deadline for reporting back-ups, demanding documentation requirements, and exemptions for backups during large rain events have all contributed to the small number of applicants and high rejection rate for the Expedited Reimbursement Program (Blue Water Baltimore n.d.).
Finally, multiple investigations have found that Baltimore DPW is less responsive to waste management needs in marginalized communities (Richman and Zhang 2019), potentially further jeopardizing timely response and reimbursement for those most harmed by basement sewage backups.
Blue Water Baltimore. n.d. “Sewage.” Blue Water Baltimore. Accessed February 14, 2020. https://bluewaterbaltimore.org/learn/threats-to-water-quality/sewage/.
Dance, Scott. 2019. “Baltimore Program to Help Homeowners Clean up Sewer Backups Denies 85 Percent of Applicants.” Baltimore Sun, January 24, 2019. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/investigations/bs-md-sewage-backups-20190124-story.html.
Ezell, Faith. 2018. “Residential Sewage Backups in Baltimore City.” Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Richman, Talia, and Christine Zhang. 2019. “Call 311 for a Dirty Alley in Baltimore? City’s Response Depends on Where You Live.” Baltimore Sun, December 11, 2019. https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-311-response-20191211-ogy5qp5vkbdoxo4cmz73zvpvvi-story.html.