Experts: Baltimore Harbor Plagued By Sewage Leaks
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Chronic sewage leaks from failing infrastructure may be a bigger threat to the region's waterways and Baltimore's harbor than accidental sewage overflows during heavy rains.
Environmental groups tell The Baltimore Sun there is growing evidence that sewage discharges are a major source of the pollution that leads to algae blooms and fish kills in the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore's streams and harbor are routinely fouled even on sunny days.
Experts and activists say a nearly $2 billion overhaul of sewer lines in the city and Baltimore County currently under way won't be enough.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is scheduled to join businesses and groups that formed the Waterfront Partnership to release a plan Wednesday to make the harbor swimmable and fishable by 2020. But sewage leaks might make that impossible.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
