BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Maryland Department of the Environment issued an exigency closure to shellfish harvesting Monday successful a information of the Potomac River disconnected St. Mary’s County.
The bid applies to astir 180 acres of the stream offshore from the St. George Island area. The closure was prompted by a sewage spill inspectors judge entered the river.
READ MORE: Attorney General's Office Investigating After Deadly Police Shooting In Glen Burnie
The section believes astir 2,500 gallons of sewage went into the stream aft an overflow connected Piney Point Road that started past Wednesday and ended Sunday. An estimated 11,000 gallons were vacuumed from ditches that pb to the river, officials said.
Shellfish provender utilizing a filtering process that tin ore disease-causing organisms, the section explained. Oysters and clams, which are often eaten raw, request to travel from unpolluted waters.
The section said it volition illustration h2o successful the affected country to find erstwhile it is harmless to harvest again. The earliest the closure volition beryllium lifted is Dec. 20.
MORE NEWS: The Monument Lighting Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary This Week
Areas of the Potomac River disconnected St. Mary’s County person been closed to harvesting doubly already this twelvemonth for sewage spills. The MDE said it volition petition a gathering with the County Commission “on the repeated strategy failures and plans to code the sewage spills.”