Maryland Department of the Environment Awards Grant to Town of Elkton

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has awarded a Bay Restoration Fund grant of $54,900 to the town of Elkton, Md. The grant recognizes the town’s “performance optimization” of plant operations at the Elkton Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the funds will be used to defray costs associated with the plant’s enhanced nutrient removal (ENR) operation and maintenance activities.

Bay Restoration Funds are awarded to Maryland wastewater treatment plants by the MDE based upon superior plant operations and performance. The Fund, established in 2004, is financed by wastewater treatment plant users to upgrade Maryland’s wastewater treatment plants with ENR technology so the facilities are capable of achieving wastewater effluent quality of 3 mg/L total nitrogen and 0.3 mg/L total phosphorus.

The wastewater treatment plant in Elkton has been a pacemaker in the state of Maryland in implementing ENR systems. In 2008, the plant was upgraded to an ENR technology to improve water quality in the Big Elk Creek. The upgraded plant is reducing effluent nitrogen to the Big Elk River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay by 80% and phosphorus by 70%. Operated through a public-private partnership by Severn Trent Services since 1993, the plant has so consistently met or surpassed requirements for wastewater quality, treatment processes and wastewater services that the Maryland Rural Water Assn. named the plant the System of the Year in Maryland for 2010.

Source: Severn Trent Services