Breakthrough in Cleaning Trash from the Baltimore Harbor 2011

When you are up to your rear with alligators,it is difficult to be receptive to "breakthrough" information that is around you.......so it is with Baltimore City Services.  Tourists see Trash in our Inner Harbor all the time and think less of Baltimore because of this ugly mess.  Trash is a form of Pollution that carries with it Health risks as well. We learn from early up from our Parents that "dirty" water is contaminated with germs that can cause illness if exposure to it takes place.  We spend a lot of time and energy in cleaning up the Trash when it gets into the Harbor,but we miss out on the opportunity to prevent this from happening by not taking meaningful steps to address this upstream.  Upstream? this sounds like a river!  Yes,it is a river at times. 70% of Baltimore is in concrete or asphalt....... and rain water ,especially when it comes down fast,floods the streets and washes whatever is on our streets (trash) down into the inlets at the ends of the street down into our Harbor untreated. Yes,we can carry out projects that put a lot of this rainwater into the ground,but that will leave the Trash still on the streets of Baltimore unaddressed.


The Harris Creek Watershed Stormwater Project just completed a Major Trash Sweep in a targeted area within the Watershed (4000 houses) and located over 100 large accumulations of Trash (min-landfills) in the backyards of vacant houses. These were reported as Service Reports (SRs) to the Department of Public Works and within a short period of time these accumulations were cleaned up. This was accomplished over a 10 week period of time (June 16,2010 thru August 31,2010). Most importantly,this reduced the Trash going into Baltimore Harbor from 5 Tons/month to less than one Ton/month.     This,then,is the "Breakthrough" we have been waiting for....... We now know where the Trash in the Harbor is coming from.........We have located this Trash......We have worked with Community Leaders to get behind City Services to come and clean this up..........and,as a result of this effort, we have shown a significant reduction of Trash going out into the Harbor......Thus,.we have Identified a Successful Model in one Watershed....that now can be duplicated in the other 26 watershed outlets to the Baltimore Harbor.......We now can see a way (Vision) that we can have a Safe and Healthy Harbor that is fishable and swimmable within our Lifetime.

This has now been present twice over the last year to the Baltimore City Council in the presence of the Baltimore Department of Public Works.  This is the Breakthrough that we have been waiting for.   The Opportunity to do something meaningful about the Trash in the Baltimore Harbor is now.  The only aspects missing are the Vision to see this.......the Tenacity to stay on the mission..... and the Resolve to make it happen,       

            Respectfully,Raymond D.Bahr MD.