Lawmakers tour troubled wastewater treatment plant and ponder more state help

The state of Maryland and local governments in the Baltimore area have spent about $1 billion on the city’s Back River and Patapsco wastewater treatment plants over the past decade. So when Sen. Guy Guzzone (D-Howard), chair of the Budget and Taxation Committee, first heard about multiple water pollution problems at the Back River plant earlier this year, he was alarmed — and chagrined. “We consider ourselves partners in this,” Guzzone said of himself and his colleagues in the General Assembly. “That we had to read about it in the newspaper wasn’t ideal. When we invest a billion dollars, we have a responsibility, as members of the legislature, as fiscal stewards of taxpayer dollars, to know what’s going on.”