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…
Heading in to this year’s general assembly session, the environmental community was concerned that our parks, wildlife, open space, and waters might take a backseat to other issues. We elected a governor and many new legislators that campaigned on less regulation-usually bad news for the environment-and on repealing the “rain tax.” But all things considered,…
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…
This fall, the Baltimore City Council will be considering a bill that will place a 5-cent fee on disposable plastic and paper bags. Anyone who lives in Baltimore knows that litter is a serious problem. One of the most prominent type of trash seen in our neighborhoods, trees, and floating in the Baltimore Harbor, is…
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…
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…
It’s a fact: plastic bags are a major source of trash in Baltimore’s rivers and in the Baltimore Harbor. According to various estimates, plastic bags are the second most common trash pollutant making up 10% of total trash and 50% of all plastic trash. Thankfully, the Baltimore City Council is working to address this problem….
Can you imagine a city without impervious surfaces? Actually, engineers call them “impervious surfaces”. People in Baltimore know them as streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and roofs. These hard surfaces make urban and suburban life possible, but they also cause big environmental problems. In a natural environment, soft surfaces like meadows and forests can absorb and…
