Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper Internship: Spotlight on Lloyce Frimpong
In July 2025, Blue Water Baltimore hosted our first-ever cohort of Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper interns for a two-week intensive “bootcamp” style immersive learning experience. The opportunity was generously funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Maryland Department of the Environment under the Healthy Environment, Healthy Communities Grant Program. Hear how the internship helped shape the next generation of Baltimore’s environmental stewards in their own words:
From the Harbor to the heart of Baltimore: A lesson In Environmental Justice
This summer, I had the privilege of participating in the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper Bootcamp, an experience that opened my eyes not only to the science of Water monitoring, but to the soul of a city.
Through The Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper Bootcamp, we learned about monitoring the health of our waterways and how factors, like industrial runoff and air pollution, sewage system malfunctions, human engineering of the Inner Harbor, and a high ratio of impervious surfaces to green space, have all contributed to the condition of the water. These impacts are reflected in different measures such as turbidity, aquatic life, pH, salinity, and other indicators. What we learned in the classroom came to life when we went out and saw these things firsthand, and what the numbers mean for the communities that live beside them.
And that was just the beginning.
The program went far beyond fieldwork; it pulled back the curtain on the environmental justice issues woven into the fabric of Baltimore. Run by Blue Water Baltimore, the initiative is more than a Waterkeeping organization; it’s a dynamic force that empowers and amplifies the voices in Baltimore City. The organization highlights the beauty and resilience of a city that is too often overlooked and reclaims the narrative of a city too often misunderstood, offering a meaningful representation of the heart of Baltimore.
Through engagement with attorneys, council members, and community leaders, I gained a deeper understanding of the profound connection between environmental and human health in urban areas. The polluted water isn’t just an ecological crisis; it’s a public health crisis, a racial justice concern, a story of inequity written across decades of urban development and neglect.
As a future physician, I am committed to approaching care holistically and with a deep sensitivity to the social and environmental contexts that shape community health. This experience solidified how I understand care. Health doesn’t start in the clinic; it starts in our neighborhoods, our parks, our waterways. And if we are not paying attention to the environment, we are not really paying attention at all.
