In the United States we are blessed to have tremendous protections afforded to us by the Clean Water Act and other Federal and state environmental laws. Citizens of other nations lack the most basic legal protection preventing sewage or untreated industrial waste from contaminating their drinking water and natural resources. However, great legal protections do…
In 2012, for the first time ever, Herring Run Nursery was a vendor at the 25th annual Baltimore Herb Festival. We grow and sell native plants primarily for their wildlife value and pollution reduction merits, but it turns out that many native plants are edible or medicinal to humans as well. I’ve posted a short article on…
Note: BWB staff member Brian Dawkins is an Americorps Public Ally who performs site visits, installations, and outreach for our Water Audit program. On Friday, April 27th, Blue Water Baltimore teamed up with Eastwood Elementary Magnet School for their 5th Annual Environmental Fair. As BWB’s representative at the fair, I was asked to speak to…
Have you ever wondered where those blue and white barrels come from, those “rain barrels”? You may have heard that they’re recycled, but what does that mean? And how about “food-grade”? Come along for a trip from start to finish in…The Life Of A Rain Barrel! Let’s start with one of our most consistent sources…
From the Desk of the Executive Director: Last Monday, April 9th, was the final day of the Legislative Session in Maryland. After the exciting passage of two top priority bills the week before–increased funding for Waste Water Treatment Plants and limits on where septics systems could be built–it was time to turn attention to important…
Rain is great. I heartily encourage my kids to stick out their tongues and catch a few cold drops of precious spring moisture every April. Rain on impervious surfaces, however, is bad. In our developed environment, impervious surfaces such as streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and roofs are often more prevalent than green space. And lacking…
[Note: This post was written by T.J. Mullen, President of BMP Inc. and Chairman of the Blue Water Baltimore Board of Directors.] My son Jack and I accompanied a lively group from Blue Water Baltimore to Annapolis on Wednesday, March 28th 2012, for the Rally for Clean Water, organized by the Clean Water, Healthy Families…
My name is Tina Meyers and I just started two weeks ago at Blue Water Baltimore as the new Baltimore Harbor WATERKEEPER for Blue Water Baltimore. I am SUPER excited to be your new on-the-water advocate, and I can’t wait to get to know our supporters in more depth. However, there is an urgent issue…
Here’s an alarming statistic: the trash interceptor where Watershed 246 empties into the Baltimore Harbor (near Canton) receives between three to five tons of trash MONTHLY. That’s 6,000 to 10,000 pounds of refuse getting carried by stormwater from the city’s streets, to the storm drains, and then directly to the Harbor–in the time it takes…
Last week, in the first part of this two part series on water pollution, I explored the connection between energy, water, and pollution. This week my focus is on the home: how water and pollution are connected to where we rest our heads. You’ve likely heard the terms stormwater and urban runoff (if you’d like…