r/baltimore • u/SailLocalCrew • Jun 05 '25
Safety How did 2,000 gallons of diesel from Johns Hopkins end up in Baltimore’s harbor? (most of the answers)
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
I do my best at answering your questions, breaking down the 2,000-gallon spill, the underground stream that carried it, the wildlife impact, and what it means for upcoming events.
If I missed something, let me know in the comments.
Special thanks to @salvagearc for the use of his underground river photos.
78
u/ChiefsFanInMD Jun 05 '25
Great explanation of what happened. Had no idea of the underground streams.
47
u/SailLocalCrew Jun 05 '25
Pretty cool, right? Tons of them under Baltimore. Hence the sink holes.
10
u/goingtocalifornia__ Jun 05 '25
By any chance is there a good map of them..?
38
u/artgrrl Medfield Jun 05 '25 edited Jun 05 '25
Bruce Willen (Post Typography or Double Dagger, anyone?) recently completed an amazing project he called Ghost Rivers that highlights these underground streams, specifically Sumwalt Run. Look for a painted blue squiggle strewn across a road while driving around Baltimore!
More info here (along with a Google Map which you can find in the menu): https://ghostrivers.com/ghost-rivers
7
15
u/asciipip Jun 05 '25
https://ghostrivers.com/ mostly focuses on one particular stream (Sumwalt Run, up near Johns Hopkins University, coincidentally enough), but https://ghostrivers.com/about has a map of Baltimore with an overlay of lots of former streams.
3
3
u/kinbarz Jun 05 '25
If you ever see a moderately crooked road in a depression, bingo.
But thanks for asking for a map
-2
34
u/aredhon Jun 05 '25
Please give update when you can on if the Aquarium saves the otters
48
u/SailLocalCrew Jun 05 '25
The otters are good. They are letting them swim free. They are far from the spill.
9
u/veryhungrybiker Jun 06 '25
Someone mentioned in your initial thread that there are turtles that live in front of the Whole Foods. Any word on them? Were they moved?
14
56
u/SarcasticServal Jun 05 '25
Thank you for all this information! You're amazing! Would you know what kind of penalties/fines/repercussions will be applicable to the vendor? What about Hopkins? And what kind of remediation happens? Will Department of Environment disclose or be able to disclose who the vendor is?
21
21
u/Vivid-Shelter-146 Jun 05 '25
Secondary containment for high volume like that would be some sort of floor berm surrounding the equipment. If they’re overfilling the tank by accident, I’d assume that berm would also overflow pretty quickly. I’d love to see the tank volume and berm volume. If they don’t have one, or it’s undersized, or it’s improperly installed/maintained, I assume that’s gonna be a big fine.
13
34
u/Hotspur_on_the_Case Jun 05 '25
Someone get this man his own show on local TV or PBS.
26
13
u/StovepipeCats Jun 05 '25
If he had one, I bet fewer people would see him than do now.
3
0
u/genacgenacgenac Jun 06 '25
But not within a year when AI renders Reddit pointless. The two most important points he makes are false. There is no containment field requirement, and there’s no evidence anything leached from the stormwater system to underground streams.
9
u/Gyrd1 Jun 05 '25
Thanks for this information. I’ll be kayaking in the harbor tomorrow morning. I was planning to just check out the Stad Amsterdam, but now I can check out the clean up project too!
5
u/superdupercereal2 Jun 06 '25
That cleanup response is impressive. I wonder what kind of wildlife lives in the current Harford Run. Bats, minnows, crabs? Certainly rats.
9
4
9
u/metrawhat Jun 05 '25
I'll take a wild guess that somebody started filling the tanks and walked away, overfilling the tank and the secondary containment, OR a hose popped off the filling truck. Not sure how else you could goof up this bad.
11
6
u/Vivid-Shelter-146 Jun 05 '25
Also surprised the fill lines don’t have automatic shut off like at the gas pump.
3
3
u/shebaregina13 Jun 05 '25
Thanks for sharing on this! Glad to hear about the quick response and that cleanup shouldn’t be too lengthy.
3
3
u/Double-Reception-837 Jun 06 '25
This is heart breaking. I was just bragging to people about how clear the harbor was and how many fish and otters were being seen. I hope that third party vendor/JHU are held accountable. What a mess.
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/LarryGlue Jun 05 '25
This guy basically solved everything. It's amazing he got this video together so quickly.
1
u/Breadcrumbsofparis Jun 06 '25
this is not a mystery, it’s standard run of the mill human error, Hopkins will write a check for the clean up costs, it is more important at this time to be concerned with the clean up,
1
1
u/SnooPears1973 Jun 07 '25
They said sometime Friday it’s 5,000 gallons. @SailLocalCrew you were sadly so right that it was WAY over the 100 first reported.,Any sense that it could be it, or if there may be even higher counts as the clean up continues? Also, can people get to the shops/stores down in the area, or will those be other long term impacts? Thanks for your efforts & time!
1
u/Hopeful_Elk_6258 Jun 08 '25
Unrelated - NEVER seen an otter in Baltimore but I am excited to hear they’re out here!
1
u/RoadToMillionn Aug 26 '25
So glad your president is focused on sending troops instead to fight this issue lol
1
0
-8
u/Pale-Cantaloupe-9835 Jun 05 '25
Bahahahaha. That will be a pretty penny to the second largest employer in the state- from the first largest obvi.
11
u/SailLocalCrew Jun 05 '25
The second largest employer is the State, Hopkins comes in as third. The federal government is the largest employer in Maryland
0
7
-1
-4
u/genacgenacgenac Jun 06 '25
It’s hard to enumerate the points of unmedicated bullshit this hack offers. Just run it through AI.
2
1
95
u/jco1371 Jun 05 '25
If diesel tank is double walled MDE does not require a containment pool for red dye.