For 23 years, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, bettering Baltimore and Maryland as a whole. When he passed last October, his legacy as a champion of inclusion, equity, and community lived on. Blue Water Baltimore, the Port of Baltimore, and HeartSmiles hosted a tree planting later that month to bring together…
Medstar Harbor Hospital (MHH), one of two waterfront hospitals in Maryland, sits on a 30-acre campus directly on the Patapsco River. An extensive lawn and numerous parking lots had for years caused rainwater and pollution to flow off the property directly into the river, and subsequently into the Chesapeake Bay. As part of a 15-year…
The Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, a program of Blue Water Baltimore, collects and analyzes water quality samples at 49 monitoring stations in Baltimore City and County. With the goal of answering “how’s the water, hon?” we share this data with the public through our interactive website Baltimore Water Watch. 2019 marks a major milestone for our…
Baltimore suffers from poor water quality due to decades of chronic sewage overflows and polluted stormwater runoff. Crumbling pipes and a century-old design allow hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage to pollute our streams and Harbor annually. Nonetheless, people fish, kayak, and recreate in the Inner Harbor and other major portions of the Patapsco River and…
One of our proudest partnerships last year was with Mount Lebanon Baptist Church (MLBC). MLBC formed their Green Team in late 2017 as part of One Water Partnership, a network of faith communities joined together to care for their waterways. Blue Water Baltimore’s Senior Manager of Stormwater Programs, Jessie Hillman, worked in partnership with the…
As a local business, Howard Bank understands the importance of investing in where you live. And they’ve done just that by partnering with Blue Water Baltimore on a creative campaign that’s a win-win-win. During two annual campaigns, Howard Bank encouraged its customers to switch from paper statements to electronic statements, which benefits both the environment…
Blue Water Baltimore and Baltimore Tree Trust are both part of the TreeBaltimore partnership, an initiative of Baltimore City Recreation and Parks for all City agencies, organizations, and individuals with the common goal of increasing Baltimore’s tree canopy. As a result of this partnership, Blue Water Baltimore and Baltimore Tree Trust have collaborated on a…
BWB supporters and friends, Today was supposed to be the day we launched a month-long celebration of our 10th “birthday” as an organization. In 2010, five small watershed groups came together to invest in the idea that “We Are Stronger Together.” But I am struggling to celebrate when so many of our Baltimore neighbors are…
A special series to help you navigate the best ways to help right now | Part 1 “There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.” Khalil Gibran For me, giving is always joyful. It feels great to be part of work I care about without even having to put on…
What are native, non-native, and invasive plant species? Native species have co-evolved in specific ecosystems for thousands of years. Native plants are anchors of healthy, biodiverse communities. They have adapted to local soils and climate conditions. Each species plays a necessary role in the delicate web of life and preserves the balance and beauty of…