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,…
[Note: We are excited and honored to share this guest post by Mary Page Michel, Chairman of the Roland Park Community Foundation. This article first appeared in the Winter 2013-2014 edition of the Roland Park News.] There is a love affair happening in our neighborhood. No, this is not a mid-life crisis or a passing…
In the Maryland legislative session that starts today, there will undoubtedly be hearings on a variety of bills seeking to weaken, delay or even repeal the stormwater fee. But addressing Baltimore’s urban polluted runoff problem can’t wait, so we need to remind our legislators that the program they passed in 2012 deliberately and critically allows for local flexibility….
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…
Today, Blue Water Baltimore is proudly announcing a new faith-based initiative – fueled by a $250,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation – to reduce polluted runoff in Baltimore’s watersheds. Uncontrolled, polluted runoff is the only source of water pollution still on the rise in the Chesapeake Bay. Stormwater running off hard surfaces…
On Tuesday, December 3rd Blue Water Baltimore will be asking our supporters to do something pretty special: help prove Baltimore is the most generous city in America! We know how special the people in Baltimore are: every day we work with you to protect our watersheds: 124 thousand acres of them. Every year we are…
If you could significantly reduce the amount of stormwater pollution entering Baltimore’s streams and Harbor by making one easy and attractive change to your yard, wouldn’t you do it? Well, you can and we want to help you do it! This winter, Blue Water Baltimore is offering a series of rain garden workshops to make…
[Note: This week we are joining author Jennifer Chambers, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and the Alice Ferguson Foundation in a blog tour to celebrate children as watershed heroes, which is the subject of her new book aimed at young people.] At Blue Water Baltimore, we know that the health of our communities is inextricably linked…