BALTIMORE -- Some of the state's wastewater treatment plants are pumping millions of gallons of nitrogen into Maryland's waterways, posing a widespread problem around the Chesapeake Bay watershed, WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Crissandra Spencer reported.

A whistleblower and concerned citizens have accused a wastewater treatment plant in Centreville of polluting the bay. On Friday, 11 News uncovered a letter from the Maryland Department of the Environment that detailed the problems since 2001. The state even issued an order to fix the problems by building a new plant by December 2002, but the construction continues, WBAL-TV 11 News reporter John Sherman reported.

But some of the state's 66 other major water treatment plants are not offenders because they operate within the limits of state-issued licenses, Spencer reported.

Karen Harris-Oertel owns a crab house and a seafood-processing plant. She believes that everyone who lives and works near the bay is polluting it -- affecting her business.

"We only have about 15,000 bushels of oysters out of the Maryland waters this year, you used to see 2 million," Harris-Oertel said.

And bay restoration supporters said the problem isn't visible simply by looking at the water.

"The larger threat to the bay is the everyday discharge of treated sewage from sewage treatment plants because this is millions and millions of pounds of nitrogen going into the bay every year," said Kim Coble, a spokeswoman for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the state's wastewater treatment plants pump 17 million pounds of sewage into bay. They said that's worse than a sewage spill.

And two plants that pump the most nitrogen into the waters are in Baltimore, Spencer reported. The Patapsco Treatment Plant pumps more than five times the recommended levels of nitrogen into the waterways daily. The Back River Plants pumps two times as much.

But MDE officials warn against calling the plants offenders.

"Ninety-nine percent of the facilities are in compliance and they're safe. The issue is removing the nitrogen to 3 milligrams per liter and we're working on reducing that," MDE representative Dr. Robert Summers said.

If the governor's proposed flush tax passes in the Legislature, a $30 annual fee would be charged to homeowners with sewage lines and septic tanks. Officials said that money would support upgrades at sewage plants and could come as soon as October, Spencer reported.

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