Maryland

- Beach Description

- Beach Access

- Water Quality

- Beach Erosion

- Erosion Response

- Beach Fill

- Shoreline Structures

- Beach Ecology

- Surfing Areas

- Website

Virginia

Maryland Ratings

Indicator Type	Info	Status


Beach Access	8	8

Water Quality	7	6

Beach Erosion	8	-

Erosion Response	-	6

Beach Fill	6	-

Shoreline Structures	8	4

Beach Ecology	6	-

Surfing Areas	2	5

Website	6	-

Explain this chart

Maryland Water Quality

Water Quality Monitoring Program

The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) signed into law on October 10, 2000, amends the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), incorporating provisions to reduce the risk of illness to users of the Nation's recreational waters. The BEACH Act authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to award program development and implementation grants to eligible States, Territories, Tribes, and local governments to support microbiological testing and monitoring of coastal recreation waters, including the Great Lakes, that are adjacent to beaches or similar points of access used by the public. BEACH Act grants also provide support for development and implementation of programs to notify the public of the potential exposure to disease-causing microorganisms in coastal recreation waters. EPA encourages coastal States and Territories to apply for BEACH Act Grants for Program Implementation (referred to as Implementation Grants) to implement effective and comprehensive coastal recreation water monitoring and public notification programs. CWA section 406(i) authorizes appropriations of up to $30 million per year to develop and implement beach programs. Unfortunately, only about $10 million per year has been authorized since the program's inception. For 2009, the total funds made available for BEACH Act grants are $9.9 million. Funds are allocated to the states and territories based on a formula which uses three factors that are readily available and verifiable: (1) Length of beach season, (2) miles of beach and (3) number of people that use the beaches. Maryland is eligible for a $269,000 grant in 2009.

Much of the following discussion is taken from NRDC's report Testing the Waters, A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches, July 2009.

There are 71 coastal beaches in Maryland lining 20 miles of the Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, and other bays and sounds. Counties with coastal beaches are Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Cecil, Calvert, Kent, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s, Somerset, and Worcester. Other Maryland counties along the coast, including Harford, Talbot, Dorchester, and Wicomico, have no coastal beaches.

Beachwater quality is monitored in a program administered by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). The state Healthy Beaches program closely mirrors Maine's program, including the graphics.

Sampling and notification activities are delegated to nine local health departments. Individual counties have had their own beach monitoring programs since the 1980s, and Maryland has worked closely with the counties to standardize the programs across the state. Current guidance and regulation at this time is consistent across the board and applies to all beaches in Maryland. Here is a link to contact information for each county. The monitoring season runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Maryland also monitors inland beachwater quality; this summary includes only information on the coastal beach monitoring program.

Maryland requires a sanitary survey to be conducted at all beaches prior to each season to assure that conditions have not changed and to identify problems that may adversely impact beachwater quality. By law, any problems observed must be addressed immediately. At this time, the MDE is in the process of analyzing information collected during a sanitary survey at Bay Country Campground and Beach. When complete, the MDE will share this information with Kent County so that the state, county and owners of the beach can work together to improve beachwater quality at this location.

Beaches with elevated bacteria concentrations are targeted for pollution source surveys using GIS-based software.

Maryland’s beach monitoring program maintains a website that provides tips for beachgoers to help keep beaches clean, and counties conduct their own outreach activities.

MDE works closely and cooperatively with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) to monitor, track, report, and advise the public about harmful algal blooms. DNR maintains a Web site with harmful algal bloom monitoring data. A hotline is available for the public to report algae blooms, and the public is notified swiftly through local health departments via signs, press releases, and national, state, and local Web sites anytime an algae bloom poses a risk to swimmers or beachgoers.

Indicator Organisms: Enterococcus
Standards: At marine beaches, Maryland applies a geometric mean standard of 35 cfu/100 ml plus a single-sample maximum standard for enterococcus of 104 cfu/100 ml at Tier 1 and Tier 2 beaches and 158 cfu/100 ml at Tier 3 beaches. Three samples are taken per sampling event and the average of the sampling results is used to determine whether the standard is being met.

Maryland does not have preemptive rainfall advisory standards, but the MDE is working with local health departments to develop a tool to document precipitation at beaches so that they can analyze water quality data versus precipitation at their beaches. A predictive model is being developed for a high-use beach at Sandy Point State Park. If a known pollution source exists (e.g., a combined sewer overflow, failing sewer infrastructure, or wastewater treatment discharge), the county must close the beach. Also, if there is any dangerous contaminant or condition, the local health department or the MDE may issue an immediate closing.

Determination of Monitoring Locations and Frequency: Priority for monitoring Maryland’s coastal beaches is based on bather use level, historical water quality, proximity of potential or actual pollution sources, human and animal fecal contamination sources, beach structure, ecological factors, and any other factors that may contribute to beachwater quality.

Practice: Samples are taken in knee-deep water, 12 inches below the water’s surface. Three samples are taken per sampling event. Generally, 30 hours pass before sampling results are known.

The US EPA's "Beaches" Web site has a useful list of beaches by state and county, indicating which beaches are monitored and which are not.
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/list/list-of-beaches.pdf

Maryland's Surf Your Watershed project is a cooperative effort involving the Maryland Departments of the Environment and Natural Resources to "catalog" important environmental, socioeconomic, and programmatic information on a watershed basis. The project provides a database in which natural resources and biological information (including hydrologic, hydraulic, and water quality); bibliographic references; contacts, programs and activity descriptions; and other data can coexist and be easily obtained for watershed management, planning, and natural resource conservation programs and projects. For instance, it identifies a broad range of indicators on a regional/watershed basis. Unfortunately, little information on ocean/recreational water quality appears to be readily available.

Another source of information on water quality is the Maryland Department of the Environment Web site at http://www.mde.state.md.us/

Single sample maximum allowable bacterial densities for subcategories of the recreational use are as follows:

	Designated (Permitted) Beach Areas	Moderate Full Body Contact Recreation	Lightly Used Full Body Contact Recreation	Infrequently Used Full Body Contact Recreation
E. coli (Freshwater only)	235	298	410	576
Freshwater Enterococcus	61	78	107	151
Saltwater Enterococcus	104	158	275	500

Secondary contact, calculated per EPA recommendation is five times the geometric mean criterion: E. coli = 630; FW enterococcus = 165; SW enterococcus = 175.

For each of the five subcategories of recreational use (permitted beaches, moderate, light, infrequent and secondary contact) the appropriate indicator will be specified for each waterbody.
Most of the water quality monitoring in Maryland occurs in the Chesapeake Bay, not on the open ocean coast near Ocean City and Assateague Island, where the surf is. At the Atlantic Coast locations monitoring generally occurs once a week every five blocks. There are 8 sampling sites in Ocean City and 7 on Assateague Island. Public Landing has 5 sampling sites but only 2 are in designated swimming areas. An odd beach closure policy at Assateague Island is that lifeguarded beaches are closed if concentrations of enterococci exceed 103 per 100 milliliters of water, while unguarded beaches are not closed until the concentration exceeds 158 per 100 milliliters.¹⁰ This higher value is consistent with the "Moderate Full Body Contact Recreation" value in the above table.

Assateague Island beaches in Maryland that are routinely monitored are:

Concession Stand
F Loop Campground
State Park South Boundary
Ranger Station
Oceanside Campground
South Beach

The state operates a Recreational Water Quality hotline from Memorial Day to Labor Day, which includes weekly sample results and notification of waterway closings. For information call: (410) 632-1200, x166 or 167. The hotline number for Assateague Island National Seashore is (410) 641-1443. For information in Anne Arundel County call (410) 222-7999.

Water quality data (Memorial Day to Labor Day) for beaches in Worcester County (Ocean City and Assateague Island) can be found here.

Surfrider Foundation's Ocean City, Maryland chapter has conducted water quality testing as part of Surfrider's Blue Water Task Force program. The test results (no data since 2004) for beaches tested by the Ocean City chapter can be viewed at http://www.surfrider.org/BWTFoutput.htm

A description of the water quality monitoring program in Maryland's coastal bays can be found at:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/coastalbays/water_quality/index.html

The Anne Arundel County Department of Health provides water sampling results for the beaches at Sandy Point State Park and about 100 county community beaches on its Web site and Water Quality Phone Line. For water quality results, visit http://www.aahealth.org/wqleadin.asp or call 410-222-7999, a 24-hour information-only line.

Water Quality Contact

Heather D. Morehead
Shellfish Division/Beaches Division
Maryland Department of the Environment
1800 Washington Blvd.
Baltimore, MD 21230
Tel: 410-537-3618
e-mail: hmorehead@mde.state.md.us

Kathy Brohawn
Maryland Department of the Environment
410-537-3608
kbrohawn@mde.state.md.us

John G. Backus
Maryland Department of the Environment
(410) 537-3965
E-Mail: jbackus@mde.state.md.us

Cindy Serman, R.S.
Worcester County Environmental Programs
(410) 632-1200, x1166
E-Mail: CSerman@co.worcester.md.us

Beach Closures

Closing/Advisory Issuance: In Maryland, both closings and advisories are issued. If the mean of three simultaneous samples exceeds the single-sample maximum standard or if the 30-day geometric mean standard is exceeded, consideration for advisory issuance is triggered. Beach advisories are issued when bacteria standards are exceeded and no known pollution source is present; closings are issued for known pollution events or other unsafe conditions.

If the local health department determines that sampling results indicating an exceedance of standards are valid, a notification can be issued without resampling. If the validity of the sample is in doubt, local health departments may resample before issuing an advisory.

All counties notify the public when a beach is closed or an advisory issued by posting signs at the beach, providing phone hotlines, sending press releases, and e-mailing interested parties. The MDE is in the process of developing a notification website to replace Earth911’s website. In some cases, sections of a beach may be placed under advisory or closed, rather than the entire beach.

Reopening Procedures: Closings and advisories remain in effect until monitoring data indicates that water quality meets standards. Maryland’s beach monitoring program recommends that local health departments sample the following day when a beach is closed or placed under advisory. In 2007, most beaches did not have follow-up monitoring, and the duration of the closing and advisory events in 2007 generally reflected the length of time between routine sample collections rather than ongoing monitoring exceedances. For the 2008 swim season, Maryland encouraged beach managers to conduct more frequent follow-up monitoring.

Maryland had 11 closing/advisory events in 2008. Total closing/advisory days for 11 events lasting six consecutive weeks or less increased decreased 75 percent to 61 days in 2008 from 243 days in 2007, 317 days in 2006, and 209 days in 2005. In addition, there were no extended or permanent events in 2008 or 2007. Extended events are those in effect more than six consecutive weeks but not more than 13 consecutive weeks; permanent events are in effect for more than 13 consecutive weeks.

Beach Closure Data

Year	Temporary	Extended	Permanent
2008	61	0	0
2007	243	0	0
2006	317	0	0
2005	209	2	1
2004	197	0	0
2003	99	1	0
2002	206*	2	2
2001	262	1	1
2000	111	1	0
1999	25	0	0
1998	10	0	0
1997	363	0	4
1996	241	0	3
1995	200	3	0
1994	82	0	3
1993	106	1	3
1992	6	2	3
1991	24	2	3

Source: NRDC, 2009
* = at least this number

In May 2009, U.S. EPA released its latest data about beach closings and advisories for the 2008 swimming season. Note that for some states the data is incomplete, making state-to-state or year-to-year comparisons difficult.

NRDC reported:

In 2008, Maryland reported 71 coastal beaches, 6 (8%) of which were monitored more than once a week, 20 (28%) of which were monitored once a week, 24 (34%) every other week, and 21 (30%) once a month. (Maryland also monitors one beach at Assateague Island National Seashore in Accomack County, Virginia. The monitoring results for that beach are included in the Virginia State Summary.) For the fourth consecutive year, NRDC looked at the percent of monitoring samples that exceeded the state’s daily maximum bacterial standards (all reported samples were used to calculate the 2008 percent exceedance values, including duplicate samples and samples taken outside the official beach season, if any). In 2008, 2 percent of all reported beach monitoring samples exceeded the state¹s daily maximum bacterial standards. The beaches with the highest percent exceedance rate in 2008 were Kurtz Beach in Anne Arundel County (18%), Red Point Beach in Cecil County (17%), YMCA Camp Tockwogh (Youth Camp) in Kent County (15%), Elk Neck State Park North East River in Cecil County (14%), Bay Country Campground and Beach in Kent County (11%), Grove Point Camp in Cecil County (11%), Tolchester Estates Beach in Kent County (10%), Elm’s Beach— Public Beach in St Mary’s County (8%), and Cedarhurst in Anne Arundel County (8%).

Cecil County had the highest percent exceedance rate in 2008 (10%) followed by Kent (8%), St Mary’s (4%), Anne Arundel (2%), Baltimore (2%), and Calvert (1%). There were no exceedances reported for Worcester, Queen Anne’s, and Somerset Counties.

Comparing percent exceedance values to previous years, NRDC includes only those beaches monitored and reported each year between 2005 and 2008. For this consistent set of 58 beaches, the percent of samples exceeding the standard decreased to 2 percent in 2008, its lowest level since 2005 (4, 10, and 7 percent in 2007, 2006, and 2005 respectively).

These numbers can be a bit deceptive when considering water quality on the open ocean. As noted above, most of the water quality monitoring (and water quality problems) in Maryland occurs in the Chesapeake Bay and not on the open ocean coast near Ocean City and Assateague Island (Worcester County), where the surf is.

In 1997, Maryland closed several rivers tributary to the Chesapeake Bay where Pfiesteria piscicida was found in high concentrations. This toxic organism contains a neurotoxin that may affect fishermen, swimmers, and other recreational users of nearshore marine and riverine waters. Exposure to Pfiesteria piscicida blooms may result in short-term memory loss, dizziness, muscular aches, peripheral tingling, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Several leading scientists believe that the number and frequency of toxic blooms are increasing around the world and that these blooms may be attributed in part to coastal pollution. In 2003, no state-reported closings or advisories were issued due to high Pfiesteria piscicida levels.¹¹

On June 6, 2002 the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee to the Coastal Bays, hosted an Environmental Indicators Workshop at Salisbury University in which over 35 scientists attended. The goal of the workshop was to review and finalize a set of environmental indicators to be monitored in the Maryland Coastal Bays. These indicators will provide information on the overall direction, efficacy, and priority of measures being implemented to protect, manage, restore and enhance Maryland's Coastal Bays through the MD Coastal Bays National Estuary Program. The three major categories for indicating progress were water quality, aquatic habitat, and terrestrial landscape.

The EPA has information on water quality in Maryland http://www.epa.gov/ow/states/MD/ including a nice fact sheet, which notes that the most serious water quality problem in Maryland is the continuing accumulation of nutrients in estuaries and lakes from agricultural runoff, urban runoff, natural non-point source runoff, and point source discharges. Excess nutrients stimulate algal blooms and low dissolved oxygen levels that adversely impact water supplies and aquatic life.

The United States Geological Survey maintains a website, USGS Water Resources of Maryland. This site is a valuable source of information including current projects, online reports, publications, and maps, real-time water conditions and educational outreach material for teachers and students. http://md.water.usgs.gov/

Maryland Sea Grant is a source of information on water quality http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/

Storm Drains & Sewage Outfalls

Information on the location or number of storm drains in Maryland was not readily available. According to MDNR staff, storm drains and flood control channel outlets are permanently posted.

Ocean City has a wastewater treatment plant that performs secondary treatment and disinfection. The plant discharges the effluent into the ocean through an outfall pipe. The Ocean City outfall system includes an outfall pumping station located at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, approximately 700 feet of ductile iron pipe from the Wastewater Treatment Plant to the beach area, an air release valve vault just short of the beach and 4,600 feet of pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe discharging to a diffuser section which is in water approximately 30 feet deep. The 1,000 foot long diffuser section has 50 4-inch risers which extend approximately 7 feet above the center line of the pipe, ending in 4 inch by 4 inch tees that are intended to discharge effluent parallel to the beach. The effluent is diluted to 1 part effluent to 200 parts water. More information on the sewage treatment process can be found at http://www.ococean.com/ww.html

Up-to-date reported combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) are available at http://www.mde.state.md.us/Programs/WaterPrograms/cso_sso.asp

The MDE notes that although they have required that all public sewer system owners or operators report overflows to them, there may be incidents that are not reported. Note that overflow amounts may be estimated, provided by the person reporting the overflow using best professional judgment, or they may be actual readings from flow measurement devices when available.

Sewage overflows in Baltimore surged more than 54,400 percent in 2003, according to city Department of Public Works data, 20 months after Baltimore signed a $940 million federal consent decree mandating a 14-year overhaul of its sewage system. Almost 130 million gallons of unauthorized raw sewage mixed with storm water spilled into Baltimore streams, ditches and basements through October 2003. That's up from around 240,000 gallons in 2002. Raw sewage overflows threaten human and environmental health, and spills from sewage systems designed to be separate from storm water, called sanitary sewage overflows, are a violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

Baltimore was well aware of the problems with its system, one of the oldest of its kind in the nation. It settled a lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in April 2002. A Justice Department statement announcing the settlement said Baltimore suffered frequent overflows "caused by excessive use, limited sewer capacity and infiltration of water into the system caused by years of neglect."

Most of the 2003 increase, 124 million gallons, occurred during two events at Herring Run blamed on weather-related damage during a year of record-breaking precipitation. A pipe failure in February allowed an estimated 36 million gallons of raw sewage to ooze into the stream, and a broken manhole released 88 million gallons from mid-June to early July. In June, Herring Run waters turned gray and emitted a foul odor as toilet paper, condoms, and feminine hygiene products could be seen floating by, said Darin Crew, "stream team" program manager for the Herring Run Watershed Association, who witnessed the spill first hand. Crew's association is paid by the city to test water quality by sewage lines, and he took samples during the spill.

The magnitude of Herring Run's spills were not publicly known until inquiries from Capital News Service, which analyzed sewage overflow report data through October compiled by Maryland's Department of the Environment. MDE's data underreported the spills by 85 million gallons. When contacted, the city's Public Works Department discovered an error in 2002 statewide data. More than 26 million gallons of drinking water spills had been mistakenly reported as sewage spills. The more glaring error arose in the 2003 data, where the second, 88-million-gallon, Herring Run spill was originally reported as only 3 million gallons.

The city's second large spill occurred after downed trees and debris from a heavy rainstorm snapped off a manhole, and the pipe promptly filled with rocks, some weighing more than 200 pounds. It took more than 10 days to clear the pipe, and another flare-up in early July brought the overall amount of sewage spilled to staggering proportions.

The city, as part of its 14-year upgrade, is lining the insides of its major pipes with plastic and will inspect the entire system over the next 10 years. Yet the city does not fully know the extent of overflows because they are often hidden and generally underreported, said activist Guy Hollyday, city resident and volunteer chairman of the Baltimore Sanitary Sewer Oversight Coalition. "The underreporting is something that really ticks me off," he said.¹²

An update on Baltimore's sewage spill problems was provided in an article Pardon Our Filth by Van Smith that appeared in the December 19, 2007 edition of citypaper.com.

The federal EPA sued the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission in November 2004 for the discharge of millions of gallons of raw or partially treated sewage into Maryland waterways. The government asked the court to issue an immediate injunction directing the WSSC to correct the problem and develop measures to prevent future overflows. According to the NRDC, Maryland DEP records show that the WSSC has 445 overflows between January 2001 and July of 2004. The agency says it plans to spend $150 million over six years to upgrade its infrastructure and analyze overflow patterns. By comparison, it spent $40 million on those same programs from 1996 to 2001.

Three military bases in Maryland have together spilled nearly 20 million gallons of sewage into Chesapeake Bay tributaries over the past decade, raising further questions about the military's refusal to pay the state's "flush tax," aimed at cleaning up the bay.

An often overwhelmed World War II-era waste treatment plant at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County has flushed 5.4 million gallons of partly treated sewage into the Bush River over the past two years, according to state records. The Naval Surface Warfare Center in Charles County has received two federal violation notices in the past six years, one for washing coal ash from a power plant into the Potomac River and another for spilling more than 14 million gallons of sewage, records show. And Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County has spilled more than 200,000 gallons of raw sewage over the past four years into the Little Patuxent River and nearby waterways, records show.

In the good news category, Maryland recently upgraded the Chestertown Wastewater Treatment Plant. The upgrade is anticipated to dramatically reduce the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients that the treatment plant dumps into the Chester River which flows directly to the Chesapeake Bay. In addition to the Chestertown Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade, additional plant upgrades are scheduled to take place at all 66 major treatment plants in the state.

The need for municipal sewage treatment in Accomack County was highlighted in a report released in October 2007 that documented evidence of groundwater pollution from failing septic systems and lagoons, and by 26 areas along the shorelines of the bayside and seaside that were closed to shellfish harvest because of contamination. There are 64 direct polluters of surface waters, 495 indirect contributors and 140 potential polluters in the county, according to Virginia Department of Health figures cited. Only three of 23 soil types found in Accomack are suitable for underground septic -- leaving much of the bayside and the lower seaside not suited for the traditional septic systems that occupy them.

The report recommends that the county ask the health department to declare the situation a public health emergency, both to raise public awareness and to increase Accomack's eligibility for government funding for sewage treatment. The findings were reported in a wastewater action plan written by the engineering firm McKim and Creed, which was hired in May 2007 to investigate alternatives for addressing county wastewater needs. Two weeks prior to release of the McKim and Creed report, an official from a separate firm studying Chincoteague's wastewater needs said years of contamination from septic tanks there have polluted waterways and necessitated a wastewater treatment process.

Information on Maryland's nonpoint source management program can be found at:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/czm/nps/

This Web site contains a very nice description of Maryland's nonpoint source pollution prevention programs, with links to multiple other sites with descriptions of programs for agricultural activities, forestry, urban areas, and watersheds. Also here is a description of Maryland's coastal nonpoint source pollution control program, which specifically addresses septic systems and "clean marinas." Maryland has approximately 400,000 septic systems today (approximately 1 in 5 households), with potential for significantly more. With few exceptions, the same septic system technology is in use today that was used 50 years ago. These systems are not designed to remove nutrient pollution, which is the key type of pollution targeted by the Chesapeake Bay clean-up effort.

Officials at Maryland’s cabinet agencies responsible for the environment announced in December 2004 the transfer of a grant program and its associated employees from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over to the Department of the Environment (MDE). This administrative action calls for transferring a division of the Watershed Service Unit of DNR to the Technical and Regulatory Services Administration of MDE. The transfer affects 13 positions within Maryland’s Nonpoint Source Management Program, which seeks to reduce nonpoint source pollution impacts to waterways. Nonpoint source pollution originates from various sources including agricultural runoff, deforestation, construction and urban activities. The program provides not only financial assistance, but also policy, technical and educational resources related to nonpoint source pollution. Maryland provides reimbursable grants to state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and institutions of higher learning to implement nonpoint source pollution control projects. In fiscal year 2005, Maryland received over $2.5 million in federal funding for this program. Keys to the program's success rely on creating open partnerships with other nonpoint source entities and developing long and short- term goals that will advance the program in the nonpoint source pollution control arena.

The Center for Watershed Protection is adapting the Watershed Treatment Model — which tracks pollutant sources and the effectiveness of various watershed treatment options — to the geography of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains. They also are developing case studies of communities that have successfully implemented LID practices. Investigators will work with local communities to refine these tools, evaluate current regulations and zoning, and identify barriers and opportunities to change. The research team will use existing networks developed by the Center and NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials) to collaborate with communities and disseminate the tools to the 15 states that encompass these coastal plains.

Maryland Rural Legacy Program's goal is to protect the best remaining landscapes in Maryland: rich farmland, extensive forests, threatened habitats and cultural resources; rural areas that, if left unfragmented by urban encroachment, may continue to be economically viable. Greenbelts of forested land and open spaces surrounding populated areas protect Maryland’s water quality by reducing pollution run-off into streams, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. These same greenbelts provide habitat critical to the survival of many native plants and animals. The Program seeks to conserve up to 200,000 acres in Maryland by the year 2011. To do this, the State Legislature has earmarked $71.3 million for the acquisition of lands and the purchase of voluntary conservation easements over the next five years.

Clean Marinas
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources' Clean Marina Initiative program offers marina operators and boaters the opportunity to participate in efforts to protect Maryland's natural resources. It is hoped that the collective effort of individuals and businesses will improve the quality of Maryland's waters from Deep Creek Lake, to the Chesapeake Bay, to the coastal bays. The Maryland Clean Marina Initiative recognizes and promotes marinas, boatyards and yacht clubs that meet or exceed legal requirements and adopt pollution prevention practices. Over 80 marina have voluntarily adopted measures to control pollution associated with marina operations and stand as examples of the conservation ethic: individual responsibility for healthy land and water.
http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/boating/cleanmarina/

Water Quality Contact (Runoff & Outfalls)

Gwynne Schultz
Coastal Nonpoint Program
(410) 260-8735

Katharine Dowell
(410) 260-8741
kdowell@dnr.state.md.us

Ken Sloate
(410) 260-8736
ksloate@dnr.state.md.us

Perception of Causes

In Maryland, the major sources of pollution include sanitary sewer overflows, septic systems, boat discharges, and polluted stormwater runoff.¹³ MDNR staff believes the greatest regional threats to coastal water quality are outdated or undersized treatment facilities, excess nutrients, and non-point source pollution.¹⁴

NRDC reported that all closing and advisory days in 2008 were due to monitoring that revealed elevated bacteria levels from unknown sources of contamination.

According to Maryland’s 2004 305(b) report, all 96 miles of ocean coastline fully support all uses.

For this reporting cycle, 4,961 miles of rivers and streams were assessed for supporting aquatic life and 650.4 miles assessed for swimming and other primary-contact recreation. Of the river miles assessed, 65.5 percent (3,254.4) were impaired for aquatic life, and 40.1 percent (261.2) were impaired for primary-contact recreation. The top five causes of impairment were biological community impacts, unknown causes, siltation, lack of oxygen, and bacterial indicators. The predominant sources of impairment were unknown. All but a half mile of the 2,517.5 miles of estuarine waters assessed for swimming were fully supportive. Of the 2,522.4 square miles of estuarine waters assessed for aquatic life support, 72.4 percent (1,827.9) were impaired. Nutrients and lack of oxygen were the primary causes of Maryland’s estuaries nonsupport of their intended uses. The main sources of the contamination were unspecified nonpoint source pollution, upstream sources (including point sources such as discharge pipes), and sediments. Other sources include poor tidal flushing, wastewater discharges, urban runoff, and failing septic systems. ¹⁶

A first-ever report card issued in June 2009 by the Maryland Coastal Bays Program and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science gives the string of lagoons in Worcester County a C-plus overall, indicating moderate health. Conditions range from good in the southern bays bordering Assateague National Seashore to poor in the northern bays surrounded by resort development.

Despite adopting strict new rules aimed at protecting streams from new development and demands put on largely suburban Montgomery County to clean up already built-up neighborhoods, Maryland rates only a D-plus overall for its efforts to rein in polluted runoff, according to the Chesapeake Stormwater Network.

In September 2007, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) released a report Bad Waters: Dead Zones, Algal Blooms, and Fish Kills in the Chesapeake Bay Region in 2007. The report found:

Blooms of often harmful, toxic algae were reported from Baltimore to Hampton Roads, often accompanied by dangerously low levels of life-sustaining dissolved oxygen.
In Maryland, from June to early August there were over 45 fish kills due to algae or oxygen-deprived dead zones. Some were small—others were as devastating as 26,000 dead in Marley Creek in northern Anne Arundel County.
Along the Maryland/Virginia border, an algal bloom lasted for more than two months on the Potomac River, eventually killing over 300,000 fish.
For the second time in three years, young-of-the-year smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna and Juniata river basins exhibited infections due to high levels of the bacteria Flavobacterium.
Fish kills of smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish reported for the last four years in the Shenandoah River system have now jumped to another watershed: the upper James and its beautiful Cowpasture and Maury River tributaries.

CBF has released its 2008 State of the Bay Report. The report indicated a static overall Bay health index of 28, far from CBF's goal of 40 by 2010. For the report, CBF evaluates 13 indicators: oysters, shad, crabs, striped bass (rockfish), underwater grasses, wetlands, forested buffers, resource lands, toxics, water clarity, dissolved oxygen, and phosphorus and nitrogen pollution. CBF scientists compile and examine the best available historical and up-to-date information for each indicator and assign it an index score and letter grade.

During the first quarter of each year, the Bay Program assembles an assessment of Chesapeake Bay health and restoration, which synthesizes the previous year's Bay ecosystem health, restoration efforts and factors impacting Bay and watershed health.

Long-stalled efforts to clean up Chesapeake Bay got a ray of hope in May 2009, when President Barack Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take charge of a new federal effort and to exercise its full authority under the Clean Water Act. The order calls for better agricultural practices and the development of a strategy to deal with threats from climate change. Meanwhile, substantial sums of new money are flowing to restoration efforts, including $891 million from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act for upgrading wastewater treatment plants.

Public Education

As part of their beach water quality monitoring program, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) provides Tips for Beachgoers that consist of:

Contact the local health department or the MDE Healthy Beaches Program about the status of a specific beach or check online here.
Follow the recommendations of your local health department regarding swimming at a specific beach
Avoid swimming after heavy rainfall
Avoid swimming near storm drains
Always take a shower or bathe after swimming
Try not to swallow water
Avoid swimming if you have an open wound or infection

The Healthy Beaches Web site has a list of Healthy Beach Habits.

Established in 1990, WET (Water Education for Teachers) is an interdisciplinary water education program which targets educators and young people in grades K-12. The goal of Project WET is to facilitate and promote the awareness, appreciation, knowledge, and management of water resources through the development and dissemination of classroom ready teaching aids. A trained network of teachers, resource professionals, and citizens organize and teach Project WET workshops throughout Maryland. By familiarizing educators with current water resource issues, Project WET ultimately reaches students by incorporating interesting activities, simulations, exhibits, and models into the classroom. For more information about Project WET, please contact Cindy Grove at (410) 260-8710 or cgrove@dnr.state.md.us

MDNR's Web site has several links to materials designed to educate the public about its role in water quality improvement, including the nonpoint source pollution program descriptions mentioned above. Much more information is available at the Maryland Department of the Environmental Web site:
http://www.mde.state.md.us/CitizensInfoCenter/pollution_prevention/index.asp
http://www.mde.state.md.us/CitizensInfoCenter/environmental_education/index.asp

The Chesapeake Bay Program's Businesses for the Bay initiative has recognized several leading regional businesses, non-profit organizations, educational facilities and municipalities for their efforts to reduce the amount of chemicals and nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers. Award recipients are selected by their peers and honored for their successful efforts to implement pollution prevention projects. Pollution prevention – reducing pollutants through equipment, technology and procedure modifications, or the redesigning of products – benefits businesses by helping improve their bottom line and helping improve the quality of their local environment.

NOAA has created an Alternatives for Coastal Development Web site which illustrates and analyzes three different residential development scenarios for a hypothetical coastal property. Economic, environmental, and social indicators are calculated and compared for each scenario. This information should be useful to anyone (developers, citizens, local governments, etc.) interested in applying similar development design components in their communities.

EPA has compiled several NPS (Nonpoint Source) Outreach Products that are a selection of television, radio, and print products on nonpoint source pollution that have been developed by various agencies and organizations around the country. They are good examples of outreach in the mass media.

NOAA, in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, International City/County Management Association and Rhode Island Sea Grant, will be releasing, in August 2009, a first-of-its kind interagency guide that adapts smart growth principles to the unique needs of coastal and waterfront communities. Smart Growth for Coastal and Waterfront Communities builds on existing smart growth principles to offer 10 coastal and waterfront-specific guidelines that help manage development while balancing environmental, economic, and quality of life issues.

USGS' Great Lakes Beach Science Web site has a nationwide database that contains greater than 1200 citations for publications directly and indirectly pertaining to recreational water quality intended for access by the general public and scientific community. It is a fully searchable, downloadable bibliography that has been categorized into major study topics.