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For safer septic systems, MD needs inspections!
Email your representatives! Septic systems are a critical piece of infrastructure that treats the wastewater coming off individual properties, so it is less hazardous to human health and the environment. It is critical that they are functioning, but because they are buried in the yard it is easy for them to silently fail and go unnoticed. Pathogens from septic systems are a problem, and we want to catch them before they pollute surface water and drinking water. An evaluation of data from the CDC’s Waterborne Disease and Outbreak Surveillance System found that septic systems contributed to 67%
Our 2026 Maryland Legislative Priorities
Maryland’s General Assembly begins today, and for the first time since 2018, Clean Water Action is not asking for your help in ending subsidies for burning trash under Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio. Your tireless support over the years made a difference, and the General Assembly ended these subsidies last year. Thank you! We’re working to bring that winning energy into 2026 and secure real progress for clean water, zero waste, and environmental justice. Here are our top priorities for this year’s legislative session, and how you can help! The CHERISH Our Communities Act This landmark bill
Touring the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant
On October 15th, I visited the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant on a tour with Baltimore Heritage. Though the plant was originally constructed in 1940, the iteration that exists today was finished in 1985 and treats wastewater: 90% from households, and 10% from industrial sources. This wastewater comes from South and West Baltimore city, along with Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Howard Counties. The plant is 68 acres and has the capacity to process 63 million gallons of water a day and has a four stage treatment process, from preliminary, to primary, secondary, and tertiary. How does the
A Confusing Week for Baltimore's Plastic Bag Ban
On Monday October 7 at 1:00 pm, I attended the Baltimore City Council Judiciary Committee's work session on the Plastic Bag Reduction Bill ( #19-0401). It had to do with redefinition of a banned "plastic checkout bag" from a maximum thickness of 4 mils (thousandths of an inch) to a mazimum thickness of 2.25 mils. This would mean that distribution of plastic bags below 2.25 mils would be disallowed, and distribution of those between 2.25 and 4 mils to customers would be standard. In essence, a slightly thicker bag would be standard to encourage a false spirit of reusability. According to Cailey
MDE listens to stories about "A Geyser of Human Waste"
On September 30, 2019, the Maryland Department of Environment held a meeting on the growing concerns surrounding the effectiveness of the “Baltimore City Building Backup Expedited Reimbursement Pilot Program”. Albeit the name of the program is long, the issues that this program remedies are concise. In general, the program is meant to compensate for the cost of the flooding of sewage within the basements of Baltimore City residents. Due to increased rainfall experienced by the Baltimore community, the aging infrastructure of the sewage pipes become backed up, leading to sewage becoming
