Clean Water Coalition Urges Residents to Contact Representatives
Clean Water, Healthy Families released a video urging residents to voice their support of various water-treatment bills before the Maryland General Assembly comes to an end.
Videos
A coalition of regional water preservation organizations released a video this week urging residents to contact their state representatives to pass several bills focusing on water treatment and restoration projects.
Known as “Clean Waters, Healthy Families,” the coalition is comprised of groups across the state including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Edgewater-based South River Federation (SRF) and the West/Rhode Riverkeeper.
“There are three bills we’ve been working on as part of a larger coalition, either through the Senate or the House,” said Erik Michelsen, executive director of the SRF in a phone interview. “We’re trying to urge legislators to get those bills passed before the session closes.”
Michelsen said members of the SRF attended the Clean Waters, Healthy Families rally in Annapolis to show their support of the legislation.
The targeted bills and their summaries are listed below:
- Senate Bill 240 / House Bill 446—Complete upgrade wastewater treatment plants that have already been designated to receive the upgrades.
- Senate Bill 614 / House Bill 987—Provide local government with resources to reduce polluted stormwater runoff and implement clean water strategies on a local level.
- Senate Bill 236 / House Bill 445—Create a strategy to reduce pollution from “poorly planned development,” including limiting new septic systems.
CORRECTION: An earlier edition of this article had the incorrect spelling of Erik Michelsen. Patch regrets the error.
In This article
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South River Federation
2830 Solomons Island Rd, Edgewater, MD (Ste B) -
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
6 Herndon Ave, Annapolis, MD -
Erik Michelsen
12:29 pm on Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Thanks for the piece, Jonathan. These are all very important bills for Anne Arundel County's rivers.
Carol Nida
2:17 pm on Thursday, April 5, 2012
Kudos for the video and the numbers of the Senate and House Bills that may help clean up our waterways.
Edgewater is particularly susceptable to polluted water because of all the development that has occurred without any thought given to upgrading and fixing the problems with the sewage treatment plants in the area.
Warehouse Creek and the South River used to be places where one could swim. Not anymore. They are on the list of most polluted waterways in Anne Arundel County.
The sewage treatment plant on Mayo Road overflows into the headwaters of Warehouse creek on a regular basis (Hence the "overflow" pond in front of Edgewater Elementary School that is supposed to catch rain water?). There is a sewage pump on Shore Drive that fails everytime there is a storm. I suspect Glebe Bay bears the brunt of that problem.
Please contact your Senator and Representative in the State Legislature and tell them how important these three bills are.