Public Works director is an unsung hero of Anne Arundel County
Just who is Chris Phipps? He is the director of the county Department of Public Works and responsible for many essential daily aspects of our lives that we may take for granted. He is a registered civil engineer and has worked at the department for 26 years, serving as deputy director for 11 years before being appointed to his present position in August 2013.
The Department of Public Works operates with a budget of $307 million and 762 employees dedicated to serving 587,000 county residents. Phipps and his employees’ efforts to provide basic services have been recognized with many national and state awards for excellence.
Why is Phipps my nominee for an unsung hero award? I was super impressed when interviewing him for columns I wrote on these services and their progressive environmental elements.
Let’s start with providing us with safe, clean drinking water. The Department of Public Works provides high-quality water for 75% of residents and businesses from 55 wells tapped into aquifers from 150 to 1,550 feet deep. This water is treated at one of 12 treatment facilities delivering 33 million gallons a day through 1,469 miles of water mains to 121,000 properties and 14,685 fire hydrants. Can you imagine even one day without water?
For 80% of residents and businesses on public sewer, they know the wastewater simply goes “away,” disappearing through pipes from flushing toilets, brushing teeth, showering, or washing clothes and dishes. The “away” is one of seven water reclamation facilities operated by DPW where our daily 32.5 million gallons of wastewater is delivered through 1,700 miles of sewer lines pushed along by 263 pumping stations.
After advanced treatment, this cleansed wastewater from 138,000 households and businesses is piped directly into our rivers and Chesapeake Bay. The Department of
Public Works has done a remarkable job upgrading the water reclamation facilities to remove 99% of phosphorus and 96% of nitrogen. These nutrients are major pollutants.
The county has far exceeded state requirements by using $254 million from the “Flush Tax” of $60 a year per household on your water and sewer bills. The Department of Public Works removes 60 tons of nitrogen more than required by the state and has been awarded an extra $18 million for these efforts.
You can help prevent clogs in the system leading to spills by never flushing anything but the three P’s: pee, poop, and toilet paper: never flush wipes, rags, condoms, sanitary napkins, oils, and grease.
After the wastewater treatment plants do their job, the county is left with 16,400 tons of biosolids annually. A contractor drains the biosolids at each water reclamation facility then hauls them for land application as Class B compost. Most wind up applied on farms in Virginia.
DPW has kept rates for water and sewer service to the lowest level of most all adjoining jurisdictions. Can you imagine even one day without the ability to flush your toilet and use your showers and sinks?
The department has an excellent system of solid-waste management for your garbage, recyclables, and yard waste. Curbside collection by private contractors serves 167,625 households.
The county emphasizes recycling and prolonging the life of its last landfill at Millersville.
As COVID 19 has kept folks at home, curbside garbage disposal has increased by 14%, recyclables 9%, and yard waste 11% in the past year. Despite the Department of Public Works’ efforts, recycling rates are stuck at 45% when they could easily be 70%.
Most trash is trucked to the Waste Management facility in Jessup, transported to King George, Virginia, and buried in a landfill. Recyclables are trucked to the Waste Management facility in Elkridge, sorted and shipped for reuse. Yard waste is taken to the Millersville Landfill, where it is composted by a contractor. Switching from plastic to paper bags for yard waste reduced costs from $72 per ton to $18 per ton.
The Department of Public Works also is responsible for 1,825 miles of county roads, 86 bridges, 87,000 street signs, and 20,000 streetlights. It manages storage facilities for 17,000 tons of road salt and a fleet of 72 dump trucks and 84 pieces of snow removal equipment for use during snowstorms.
With 163 navigable waterways, the department manages a dredging program to keep them open as they silt-in. About two to five projects are completed yearly averaging $2 million in county funds and $1 million in state funds. There is a long waiting list for dredging due to costs.
Under Phipps’ leadership, beneficial use of the dredged materials is emphasized.
The fine-grained sand and silt are drained at four storage facilities and used to staunch erosion through beach nourishment and shoreline protection, including recent projects at Lake Ogleton in Bay Ridge, Bayside Beach, Beverly Triton Beach, and Brewer Pond beach.
Phipps’ domain includes the Watershed Protection and Restoration Program, administering plans ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency to meet pollution reductions to help restore the Bay. The program handles permits for stormwater outfall compliance and contributes toward the county’s climate change resiliency program.
The fee we pay for this on our property tax bill generates $25 million a year and is used to fix stormwater runoff pollution problems.
We pay $89.25 a year for our 1,700 sq. ft. home.
The goal is to treat 3,000 acres of impervious surface. So far, 1,000 projects have been completed involving stream channel and wetland restoration and stormwater pond and outlet retrofitting.
Finally, Department of Public Works engineers deliver county projects such as the completed Annapolis library, Galesville and Jacobsville fire stations, the Police
Training Academy, and the Preserve at Eisenhower Golf Course.
Phipps and his team emphasize sustainability, and their environmental practices are models for good governance.
One example is at the Millersville Landfill. Using a federal grant and county funds, a 3.2 megawatt electrical generation station was built that burns methane gas captured from decaying organic materials. Revenues from sales into the BGE system have generated $12 million over nine years with net revenues after debt service and operational costs of $2.3 million.
Instead of releasing methane, a powerful global warming gas 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide, it is burned to produce electricity, reducing greenhouse gases by the equivalent of 188,000 acres of forest.
We are fortunate to have such basics provided as 2.2 billion people globally do not have safe drinking water, 3 billion lack basic handwashing facilities, 60% don’t have a home toilet safely managing human waste, and in low-income countries with most of the world’s population, 90% of solid waste is disposed of in unregulated dumps or openly burned with serious health and environmental consequences.
I trust now you see why Phipps gets my vote as our county’s unsung hero. And don’t forget the 762 dedicated players on his team, who have worked through COVID 19 to assure that these basic services are operating daily.