Jan. 2—By Megan Loock — mloock@baltsun.com

PUBLISHED:January 2, 2024 at 11:41 a.m.| UPDATED:January 2, 2024 at 4:11 p.m.

A sewer system blockage spilled 5,000 gallons of sewage in southeast Annapolis on Sunday, city officials said.

At approximately noon on Sunday, the city’s Department of Public Works was alerted to a spill in the sewage outfall in the 200 block of Victor Parkway near the Fairwinds Condominium community.

Workers were dispatched and cleared the blockage within an hour or two, Mitchelle Stephenson, spokesperson for the city, said Tuesday. Before the spill occurred Sunday, workers were installing a cleanout valve where Victor Parkway meets Georgetown Road.

The plumbers installed the valve on one of the pipes within the Fairwinds community. The cleanout valve failed, causing the pipe to collapse, she said.

It’s not known whether the city or private property owners own the line where the valve was installed, Burr Vogel, director of Public Works, said Tuesday afternoon.

“We did not find any deed that conveys that line to us. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It’s just that we don’t have a record of it,” he said. “We don’t have a record of the design drawings for the Fairwinds apartments or condos that are there along Victor Parkway.”

Vogel called the city and requested a repair crew after noticing the leakage, Stephenson said.

“I was on a family bicycle ride on Sunday morning along Victor Parkway when I heard water running into a storm drain. I stopped to investigate and noticed the water was coming from a manhole in the street. I called DPW utilities who dispatched a crew to clear the blockage,” Vogel said. “I thank our DPW crews for their work on New Year’s Eve to quickly resolve the issue.”

Annapolis DPW crews responded and removed enough of the obstruction to restore water flow by 4 p.m. Sunday. Stephenson said spills such as these are considered “small to medium.” The Anne Arundel County Department of Health and the Maryland Department of the Environment have been notified of the spill, she added.

Vogel was appointed as the director of Public Works in September after serving as acting director for two months. He assumed the role at the beginning of July after the departure of longtime director and former City Manager David Jarrell. Jarrell retired after more than 13 years with the city.

Vogel’s promotion followed a sewer system leak in August that dumped 300,000 gallons of sewage into the upper reaches of Spa Creek. The leak was spotted on Aug. 25 by visitors to the Chesapeake Children’s Museum. Workers identified a crack in a sewer pipeline, which took the whole weekend to repair.

The day after the initial spill, the pipe clogged again; the cracked pipe was fully repaired by Aug. 29. In response to the leak, the county health department issued a “no contact” warning until Sept. 2. Signs were posted in the Spa Creek area by county health officials advising residents to avoid touching the brown, murky water.

A week after the massive sewer leak, water samples taken in the area showed water quality had greatly improved.

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