SNOW HILL– Water and wastewater bills in Ocean Pines are expected to increase as the county waits to learn if the area will get a flush fee exemption from the state.
First quarter water and wastewater bills for residents in the Ocean Pines Sanitary Service Area will include a $15 Bay Restoration Fee. The fee, commonly referred to as the flush tax, goes to a dedicated fund used to upgrade publicly owned wastewater treatment plants throughout Maryland with enhanced nutrient removal (ENR) technology.
“The Bay Restoration Fee is a charge the Maryland Department of the Environment assesses to wastewater treatment plants if we have accepted federal or state money and we have not met a nitrogen and phosphorous limit,” Public Works Director Dallas Baker said.
Baker told the Worcester County Commissioners last week that though his department expected the service area to be exempt from the fee, officials from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) had not yet signed off on the paperwork.
“We submitted that back at the end of January for their concurrence we are exempt and do not have to charge residents,” he said at last week’s meeting. “To date we have not yet heard back from MDE.”
Baker said he was seeking guidance from the commissioners as far as the fee since first quarter bills needed to be sent out. He said the county could add the fee to the bill and refund it if the service area was deemed exempt. He said the county could also not bill for the fee, though if the service area is not deemed exempt residents would have to pay $30 rather than $15 on their next bill in that scenario. The commissioners voted 5-0 to have staff incorporate the fee into the first quarter bills.
According to county staff, the Ocean Pines Wastewater Treatment Plant meets the criteria for the fee exemption, which requires a maximum effluent concentration of 3 milligrams per liter (mg/l) of total nitrogen and 0.3 mg/l total phosphorous. Nitrogen and phosphorus are natural elements found in the earth and in the atmosphere but too much of either in area waterways can be harmful. Excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, can cause algal blooms, which deplete the oxygen from the river that fish and other aquatic life need to survive. In addition to the environmental benefits, the plant’s ENR technology saves Ocean Pines Sanitary Service Area ratepayers more than $550,000 annually for each year that MDE grants the Bay Restoration Fee exemption. Exemptions are valid for one year and must be renewed annually.
