Your Flush Tax Dollars At Work

From HoCoGov:

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman announced today that the County has received a huge financial grant from the Maryland Department of the Environment to dramatically improve the water quality in the Little Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay. Howard County is receiving $35.5 million from the state for improvements and upgrades to the Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant; the project is expected to cost almost $100 million.

“This is an incredible financial commitment from the State to dramatically improve the water quality in the Little Patuxent River and the Bay,” said Ulman. “But the real thanks goes to the citizens of Howard County who are paying for these improvements thru the ‘flush tax.’ These improvements are urgently needed and will make a dramatic difference.”

In particular this grant money will focus on installing state-of-the-art equipment to implement a strategy called Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) at the Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant. High levels of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous), as well as sediments, have been destroying the Little Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay for years.

...The project is expected to begin in mid-2009.