DPW suspends work on project as it investigates cause of treatment plant explosion

Baltimore’s public works department has suspended work on a capital project at a wastewater treatment plant as officials investigate the cause of an explosion Tuesday that injured three contract workers.

The explosion occurred at the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant in South Baltimore amid electrical work for the project, the Department of Public Works said in a news release.

“Based on information available at this time, the event appears to have involved an electrical fault or arc flash associated with that construction activity,” the agency said. “The incident was not related to the plant’s wastewater treatment processes or day-to-day operations.”

City officials said crews worked through the night to restore power and treatment processes. The power disruption caused a sanitary sewer overflow on Patapsco Avenue, but maintenance crews quickly mitigated it.

“Wastewater treatment operations are now functioning normally,” the news release stated.

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Two of the injured contract workers remained hospitalized Wednesday, in critical and serious condition.

“Our thoughts remain with the injured contractors and their families following Tuesday’s emergency response at the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant,” officials said in the news release.

DPW officials said the capital project is meant to modernize and expand electrical capacity at the facility, which opened in 1985.

At a news conference Tuesday, Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace said electrical work at the plant might have caused the explosion. Officials are investigating the cause of the explosion, fire department spokesperson Khalilah Yancey said in an email.

The Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant is the second largest in Maryland, sitting on about 69 acres of an industrial lot and serving approximately 450,000 people, DPW officials said. The facility is second only to the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant, which dealt with an explosion and fire damage in 2023 and a fire last fall.

No one was injured in either of those incidents.

The Maryland Department of Occupational Safety and Health told The Banner it was investigating Tuesday’s incident.