Pollution Map of Maryland... (Baltimore, Somerset: live, storage, agricultural)

[Tiger Beer]

Source: Maps

This is interesting....thought I'd share.

[North Beach Person]

There probably should be more saltwater intrusion areas, especially in Anne Arundel County and the Eastern Shore.

I find it interesting that Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant isn't listed due to the storage of spent power rods on-site.

[drs72]

Looks like one of those acid mine drainage X's sits right on top of my house. At times, some of the creeks in the George's Creek Valley are dark orange. It's truly a shame, especially considering that all that water is going to the bay.

[westsideboy]

Truly a shame for those of us that live here.

I didn't know streams weren't supposed to run orange when I was a kid. We knew not to go in them though.

[UTVols865]

I'm surprised to see that pollution map. I thought Maryland is supposed to be one of the most environmental-friendly states after the West and the Pacific Northwest.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by UTVols865

I'm surprised to see that pollution map. I thought Maryland is supposed to be one of the most environmental-friendly states after the West and the Pacific Northwest.

It probably is.

If there were other maps like this for other states, they'd probably be a lot worse.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by UTVols865

I'm surprised to see that pollution map. I thought Maryland is supposed to be one of the most environmental-friendly states after the West and the Pacific Northwest.

I really, really doubt that we are. We might pat ourselves on the back and think so, but if you look at our land use patterns and car-is-king mentality in the central maryland region, we're pretty bad.

I lived in the Northwest and in Vermont. That's a good place to start when investigating environmentally-friendly.

[MDguy99]

It's mostly about population density and usage. Simply look at Somerset County, Southern Cecil, Southern St. Mary's, Northern Caroline, Eastern Wicomico, Southern Carroll, Northwest Harford, and rural Northern Baltimore County. The "cleanest" of them all. Western MD and the Eastern Shore would be even "cleaner" were it not for mining and agricultural uses, respectively. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out.

[westsideboy]

The streams in the mining region are bad. They are trying to remediate the damage by raising the PH in the runs and creeks by adding fly ash, but the underlying damage is pretty much permanent. The deep mining messed up the water tables, and in some cases diverted its flow on purpose to lower the water table. Braddock Run in Clarysville is the stream I am most familiar with. A large % of the water comes out of the Hoffman tunnel, a ecological/engineering disaster from the early 20th century. The run's bottom is coated with inches of "Yellow Boy."

It is a sad reminder of an otherwise prosperous era in our region's history