ANNAPOLIS, MD (March 16, 2005) – Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. today announced Board of Public Works approval today of a $200,000 grant to finance the upgrade and expansion of Poolesville’s Wastewater Treatment Plant in Montgomery County. The Board is comprised of Governor Ehrlich, Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp and Comptroller William D. Schaefer.

“Every grant and state loan dollar spent in such projects are an investment we must make,” said Governor Ehrlich. “They are an essential part of Maryland’s long-standing effort toward achieving our 40 percent reduction in the amount of nutrients being discharged to the bay.”

Excess nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus, lead to degraded water quality, which negatively impact the ecology of the Bay and its tributaries.

The project at the Poolesville Wastewater Treatment Plant consists of planning, designing and constructing a biological nutrient removal facility (BNR) that will reduce the plant’s total nitrogen removal to a yearly average of 8 milligrams per liter and phosphorus to 2 milligrams per liter. The plant will also be expanded to handle 750,000 gallons of effluent a day to accommodate anticipated growth within the town’s limits. The plant currently processes 625,000 gallons of effluent per day and serves more than 4,500 people.

“Poolesville, in cooperation with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and Montgomery County desires to improve the water quality of Dry Seneca Creek and the Chesapeake Bay by reducing the amount of nutrients that discharge from our plant,” said Poolesville Commissioners President Paul E. Kuhlmann, II. “We look forward to working with the Maryland Department of the Environment on this endeavor.”

Total cost of the project is $3 million of which more than $1 million is the local share being paid by Poolesville. Previous Board actions and a state revolving fund loan will round out the financing. Construction began late in 2003 and is more than 95 percent complete.

###​