Maryland Dirty Water List

Fifteen of the 37 creeks, rivers and sections of the Chesapeake Bay recently added to Maryland’s dirty water list are polluted because of runoff from urban and suburban areas, according to a review of the report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF).

Maryland and other states are required to test tidal and fresh water for pollutants, and every two years to list waterways that do not meet water quality standards. Waterways placed in Category 5 are polluted and require a clean-up plan.

Waterways added to Category 5 in 2012 as a result of “urban runoff/storm sewers” were Lower Gunpowder in Baltimore County (total suspended solids, chlorides, sulfates); Back River in Baltimore City and Baltimore County (total suspended solids, chlorides and sulfates); Liberty Reservoir watershed in Baltimore and Carroll counties (chlorides); West River in Anne Arundel County (total suspended solids); Little Patuxent River in Anne Arundel and Howard counties (chlorides); Wadeable streams in the Potomac River in Montgomery and Frederick counties (chlorides and sulfates); Wadeable streams in the Potomac River in Washington County (chlorides and sulfates); the Anacostia River in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties (chlorides and sulfates); and the Deep Creek Lake watershed in Garrett County (total suspended solids).

Waterways are added to the dirty water list when water tests reveal a new creek, river or Bay section with high levels of pollution, or when they reveal an additional pollutant in a waterway already on the list. Many of the urban and suburban waterways added to the 2012 list already were listed for other pollutants.

Eleven waterways previously listed as polluted were removed this year when tests revealed those creeks, rivers and other waterways now meet federal water quality standards. Among those removed were Deep Creek Lake, a popular recreation lake in western Maryland which had been listed for phosphorous pollution, and the Miles River on the Eastern Shore which had been closed to shellfish harvesting because of high bacteria readings.

The state Senate is considering a bill, HB 987, Stormwater Management – Watershed Protection and Restoration Program, which would require the state’s most populated counties and Baltimore City to raise funds to fix badly neglected stormwater systems that are supposed to drain and treat polluted runoff. The local governments would decide the size of the fee, and the projects pursued.

source: Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF)