County Addresses Violations

SNOW HILL -- Worcester County officials this week defended reported violations pertaining to the Riddle Farm wastewater treatment plant published by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) in an effort to be proactive in resolving the issues.

Earlier this year, MDE advised the County Commissioners the discharge permit for the Riddle Farm wastewater treatment plant had been violated because some of the required monitoring and well sampling between 2007 and 2009 had not been completed. Prior to initiating the disposal of treated effluent on the permitted spray fields at Riddle Farm, Worcester was required to sample groundwater monitoring wells to test for water quality.

However, according to a release from the commissioners, some of the groundwater sampling wells were damaged during the construction of the development. For that reason, the required number of groundwater samples could not be taken, which resulted in the violation of the permit. According to the commissioners, most of the violations were out of the county’s control as testing could not be completed until the repairs to the sampling wells were completed.

According to the commissioners, the developer, Centex Homes, repaired the wells and the Riddle Farm Service Area paid the $8,000 fine assessed by MDE. According to the press release, county government took measures early on to resolve the situation.