As the Water Quality Manager at Blue Water Baltimore, my days are usually spent collecting water samples in our streams and Harbor or teaching people how different types of pollution enter our waterways. Earlier this month, I swapped my work boots for a suit jacket when I testified in front of the Maryland House Environment…
On September 17, 2015 Blue Water Baltimore, Natural Resources Defense Council, and American Rivers submitted a petition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking the agency to require certain types of private properties to reduce the amount of stormwater pollution they send into the Back River. Becky Hammer, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Staff…
On Saturday, June 27 the Baltimore region was drenched with over three inches of rainfall in a matter of hours. Whenever large rainstorms like these hit Baltimore, stormwater runoff leaks into our sanitary sewer system through cracks in aging pipes. As a result, the capacity of sewage pipes is overwhelmed and causes massive sewage overflows…
As of last week, the Maryland General Assembly was considering amendments to (SB863) Watershed Protection and Restoration Program, a bill that would strengthen the state’s polluted runoff law while at the same time giving local governments greater flexibility to fund and manage their stormwater programs. Many of these changes would have weakened the law significantly, and…
About the Legislation The Watershed Protection and Restoration Program (HB987), passed in 2012, is the framework within the ten largest jurisdictions in Maryland that works to manage local polluted runoff which is contributed from impervious surfaces. Supporters of the law have been working to show the positive benefits to our local communities, waterways, and the Chesapeake…
Is there a connection between the plastic in our neighborhoods and the plastic thousands of miles across the sea? This is the question that Trash Free Maryland set out to answer when it partnered with 5 Gyres to examine plastic pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. For four days this month, they sailed around the bay,…
On Monday night, Baltimore City Council approved amendments to its bag bill, removing the proposed fee and adopting a ban on plastic shopping bags. While a ban on plastic bags is a step in the right direction for the environment, and brings much-needed attention to the serious litter problem we have here in Baltimore, Blue…
New water quality advisory signage may now be found at access points to rivers and streams in the Baltimore area in an effort to inform the public regarding specific health-related waterway precautions. Advisory Signage The advisory signage from Baltimore City states, “Urban streams are subject to pollutants and runoff. Contact with the water should be…
Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, David Flores, joined attorneys from Earthjustice, Khushi Desai and Jennifer Chavez, at the Baltimore City Circuit Court on September 8, to present oral argument that legally challenged the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to improve the permit that governs Baltimore City’s urban storm sewer system. The argument, presented by Earthjustice before…
In late April, Baltimore was slammed by three consecutive days of torrential rain. Storms come and go in this city though, and after a few days of sunny skies, memories quickly fade. This particular bout of severe weather will be ingrained in the local memory for some time however, thanks to the collapse of a…