Maryland Jockey Club addresses wastewater issues at Laurel, Pimlico

The Maryland Jockey Club has put in place new policies regarding manure and wastewater run-off on the backstretches of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course in response to concerns raised by the Maryland Department of Environment.

The policies include routine management of manure bins and loose bedding so that waste does not enter water run-off. In addition, horsemen have been told to prevent wastewater from entering storm drains and to use detergents and soaps that are biodegradable.

According to Mike Rogers, the acting vice president of the Maryland Jockey Club, the policies were put in place after a Laurel Park site visit by officials with the Department of Environment. The officials said that a portion of the wastewater generated on the Laurel backstretch has been ultimately leaching into a wetlands area adjacent to the track.

Although Rogers said that the policies regarding manure should be relatively easy to implement and enforce, he also said that MJC officials are currently exploring several options for the management of the wastewater run-off. About half of the wastewater currently flows into a holding pond in the Laurel Park infield, but the other half can ultimately leach out of a separate holding pond into the surrounding area, Rogers said.

“That’s the more difficult problem,” Rogers said. “We have to figure out the extent of the run-off and have to manage for that.”

Wastewater management can be a difficult problem for racetracks because of the vast amounts of equine waste produced on a working backstretch. In just the past decade, two tracks, Fair Grounds in New Orleans and the now-defunct Suffolk Downs outside of Boston, have each reached multi-million-dollar settlements with the federal Environmental Protection Agency on wastewater violations.

In an alert to horsemen, the MJC outlined the new policies and said that inspectors would make regular rounds on the backstretch to ensure compliance. A first violation will incur a warning; a second violation will incur a $100 fine; and a third violation will incur a $200 fine. Any additional violation could lead to “refusal of race entries and/or forfeiture of stalls,” the MJC said.

Rogers said that most of the horsemen on the backstretch at Laurel were “already in compliance” with the new policies.

“Most of them are doing this anyway,” Rogers said. “It’s just a matter of letting people know we have got to adhere to these policies.”

Officials of the Maryland Department of Environment are scheduled to make a site visit to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore in “a couple of weeks,” Rogers said.

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