Public Notification Announcement

            On August 31, 2005, at approximately 9:30 am, the St. Mary’s County Metropolitan Commission received a sewer odor complaint at King’s Way in California, MD.  Staff arrived on site to find a sanitary sewer overflow occurring from a broken 8 inch pressurized sanitary sewer main.

Measures were taken to repair the sewer main and the overflow was stopped at 11:00 am on August 31, 2005.  Areas affected by the overflow include the wooded area directly behind King’s Way and approximately 6000 feet of an unnamed ditch.  There were no recreational or shellfish harvesting areas affected by this overflow.  Approximately 20,000 gallons of sewage was vacuumed and the entire affected area was limed.  All public access points to the affected area were posted with warning notices of the overflow.

Investigation revealed that the sewer main was damaged by a contractor’s soil boring machine on August 26, 2005.  

The contractor performing the soil borings failed to notify the St. Mary’s County Metropolitan Commission of the incident, which caused the overflow to occur from August 26, 2005 to August 31, 2005.  The estimated volume of the sanitary sewer overflow was 335,520 gallons.

St. Mary's Metropolitan Commission