helping P
erhaps the best place to see Baltimore’s commitment to
sustainability is right in the Inner Harbor, where dozens of the
city’s business and nonprofi t leaders work in unison to support
the Chesapeake Bay Watershed through sustainable and Earth-friendly
practices. A crowning jewel of the city, the Inner Harbor is an essential
part of Baltimore’s economic health and a major center for business
and tourism. But decades of pollution, trash, human activity and urban
development were making it, and the Bay, unhealthy.
Ten years ago, the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore launched an
initiative called Healthy Harbor, with a goal of making the eight miles
of Baltimore’s waterfront harbor swimmable and fi shable by this year
in partnership with several Inner Harbor businesses, city agencies,
community groups and nonprofi ts—including Blue Water Baltimore, the
National Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center. The eff orts included
installing a trash interceptor—dubbed Mr. Trash Wheel—launching the Great
Baltimore Oyster Partnership, planting fl oating wetlands, eliminating sewer
leaks, monitoring water quality and more. It’s a group eff ort—in addition
to the group’s partners and funders, more than 5,500 people volunteered
to help with water health projects in 2018. Thanks to these eff orts, the
harbor has been declared swimmable in dry weather, but there is still more
progress to be made. Read on to hear more about some of the projects from
this program and others that are helping to restore Baltimore’s waterways.
THE HARBOR
B A LT I M O R E . O R G
37