On a Sunday morning in September, Todd Evans was taking his dog Rue on a walk along the Jones Falls Bike Trail near the Woodberry Woods. As Rue sniffed around the trails’ edge, something caught his eye in the water below. A thick layer of foam had developed on the rapids and the air stank…
2020 was a year like no other for water quality monitoring and advocacy in Baltimore, and we are proud of our accomplishments and flexibility during such a tumultuous time. We continued our water quality monitoring program despite the many challenges of COVID, utilizing our in-house rapid bacteria setup to continue processing bacteria samples. We hosted…
In June 2010, Blue Water Baltimore was founded through a merger of five amazing watershed organizations, and it’s only gotten better from there. Join us as we turn 10 – a milestone we’re celebrating all month long! June will be full of fun events, special stories, and virtual high-fives with some of the thousands of…
With April showers come May flowers, and rain barrels can help keep your gardens blooming and our local streams and rivers clean! Looking to install a rain barrel at home? Here are some frequently asked questions answered by our Restoration and Herring Run Nursery staff. Q: What are rain barrels? A: Rain barrels are containers…
Sewage backups and overflows in Baltimore have been a major concern for years. The COVID-19 pandemic has made this issue that much more apparent. Many residents who experience backups can’t afford the up-front cost of cleanup and disinfection, so they do the job themselves. But we know that COVID-19 – or SARS-CoV-2 – is potentially…
We’ve seen lots of rainfall this April, and these April showers don’t just bring flowers. Baltimoreans may be experiencing flooding, sewage backups, and other effects of wet weather. At Blue Water Baltimore, stormwater is always on our mind. We want to share more about what stormwater is and how you can help mitigate its effects. …
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22nd, Blue Water Baltimore held our second annual Afternoon With Your Waterkeeper event to release our 2019 water quality data. In response to current global events, we took the event online and held our very first large-scale webinar! Our water quality monitoring program hit…
When people think about things that pollute Baltimore’s streams and rivers, chances are they think about sewage, trash, and legacy toxins. Drinking water? Not so much. It’s hard to think of drinking water as a pollutant. After all, it is clean water, right? It doesn’t have the pungent smell that sewage does. It’s not unsightly…
I was grateful to see front page coverage of a critical and growing issue in Baltimore — how we effectively deal with urban stormwater (“As Maryland pours millions of dollars into its ailing streams, research shows some projects don’t help clean Chesapeake Bay,” Jan 2). As we enter a new decade, we must think more holistically…
Blue Water Baltimore is pleased to announce that our lead water quality scientist Alice Volpitta has been appointed as our new Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper! A Maryland native and resident of Baltimore City, Volpitta has served as Blue Water Baltimore’s lead water quality scientist for nearly six years. Her areas of expertise include water quality monitoring,…
