In many ways, Guanabara Bay in the State of Rio de Janeiro faces many of the same water quality challenges today that the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland started dealing with more than thirty years ago. Just as trash, toxic pollutants, sewage and stormwater runoff are a challenge to the health of Baltimore’s streams and harbor…
Imagine you are out kayaking in the Gwynns Falls on a hot and sunny day in mid-July. It hasn’t rained in a week, yet somehow as you paddle past a large stormwater outfall you see a steady flow of water discharging into the river. Would you think this is strange? After all, it has been…
(ANNAPOLIS, MD) — For many years, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) has called for more extensive testing for toxic chemicals in the waters off the former Sparrows Point steel plant near Baltimore. As recently as 2012 CBF and Blue Water Baltimore filed an appeal in the U.S Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA,…
From Halle Van der Gaag, Executive Director of Blue Water Baltimore: I am pleased to announce that David Flores has been selected as the new Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper. David has been working with the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper program since 2009, at first through his position at the Jones Falls Watershed Association and since 2011 as…
Blue Water Baltimore Executive Director Halle Van der Gaag today released the following statement in response to a U.S. District Court recent ruling denying the organization’s citizen intervention in a 2002 consent decree between Baltimore City, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) requiring the City to fix the sewer…
Today Blue Water Baltimore is taking a critical step forward to address the millions of gallons of untreated sewage that flow into Baltimore’s waterways annually by asking the Federal District Court in Baltimore to allow us to intervene in a lawsuit against the City of Baltimore. This lawsuit was settled by a consent decree in…
[Note: Tina Meyers is the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper.] One of the reasons I love the Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1972 to prevent pollution to our nation’s waterways, is that it allows citizens the right to participate meaningfully in the regulatory process. Under the Act, citizens are empowered to help protect their local…
This month I had the honor of participating in one of the most inspiring events I’ve experienced since I started my position as Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper: the public hearing on the draft Baltimore City stormwater (aka MS4) permit. You might be wondering what the heck is so inspiring about a pollution permit hearing? I’ll tell…
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, and in celebration the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper and Blue Water Baltimore are joining the Waterkeeper Alliance in promoting clean, swimmable waters. The Waterkeeper Alliance has designated today, July 26th, as “Swimmable Action Day.” Few cities depend on water more than Baltimore does, and we are committed…
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…