We don't need to wait for the government to unravel this mystery. Every time there is a major storm, there is a big discharge of sanitary sewage into the Patapsco from an undersized sewage treatment plant upstream. Because of the incredible concentration of the sewage in the west end of the Inner Harbor and the clear weather at the time of this incident, this wasn't the usual discharge. The waterkeeper spotted sanitary debris near Domino Sugar. Because of the massive proportions of this leak, it wasn't like someone tipped a bucket of sewage into the water, as the government representatives seemed to imply. This could only be the result of the rupture of a large diameter sanitary sewer main which discharged into the harbor for a significant period of time. In such a case, there would have been many other signs of the leakage which preceded the final blowout. The preceding conditions likely went on for a significant period of time. The concentrated sewage smell dissipated after several days, indicating that the leak had been stopped shortly after the Inner Harbor became a public health nightmare, and an impending financial dead zone. It was likely that had been stopped prior to the interviews with the city and state.