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For longtime stormwater advocates, 2013 should have been a celebratory time. After four years of trying, they had finally persuaded the Maryland General Assembly to pass a bill requiring a stormwater fee for large urban areas. Each of the state's nine largest counties and Baltimore City had begun to develop fees that would help them address this long-ignored source of pollution that is projected to grow as more people move into population centers.
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The Bay Watershed Education and Training program, which helps develop programs to provide Chesapeake region students with outdoor environmental education experiences, would face elimination under the budget proposed by President Obama in April.
The budget calls for funding for B-WET and a number of other programs aimed at promoting science, technology, engineering and math education to be consolidated into the U.S. Department of Education, Smithsonian Institution and National Science Foundation
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In the next few months, Maryland's highest court will decide whether the case of an Eastern Shore woman who lost her home and business as a result of septic tank pollution from a nearby town will go to trial.
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Standing 50 feet above the Susquehanna River, the view from a catwalk on the Conowingo Dam was a study in contrasts.
To the right, water roiled out from under the dam. After running off a 27,000-square-mile drainage basin that extends well into New York and western Pennsylvania, it had just pushed its way through a series of turbines, generating more than 500 megawatts of electricity in the process.
To the left, a slower flow of water poured over the dam and through a concrete channel into the river, creating a steady water flow aimed at luring migrating fish into an elevator. After hoisting them nearly 100 feet, the elevator releases the fish into another channel that allows them to pass over the dam.
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Walking along Gwynns Falls Trail with Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper Tina Meyers, it's ironic that we pass a beige, beat-up, overturned residential trash can lying by the tree line. We're on our way to survey the Gwynns Falls stream where it meets the Middle Branch of the Baltimore Harbor. Soaking rain falls steadily — it's the kind of day that carries trash down storm drains and into creeks.
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Pollination results when the pollen from the male part of the flower (stamen) is moved to the female part of the same or another flower (stigma) and fertilizes it, resulting in the production of fruits and seeds. Some flowers rely on the wind to move pollen; others on animals.
About 75 percent of all flowering plants rely on pollinators for fertilization and more than 200,000 species of animals act as pollinators. Of those, about 1,000 are hummingbirds, bats and other small animals. The majority of pollinators are insects, such as beetles, bees, ants, wasps, butterflies and moths.
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For the last several years, some Calvert County high school students have gotten a big-picture view about how their everyday activities affect local waterways by studying some of the Bay's tiniest organisms —plankton.
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If you're wondering whether a local beach is safe for swimming this summer, there's an app that can provide the answer.
The Waterkeeper Alliance Swim Guide is available for free on iPhone, Android and other smartphones. You can use your location and it will provide a list of the closest beaches and their status. The status is marked with an icon of a man swimming.
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A four-year Virginia study found that so-called ghost fishing carried on by lost and abandoned crab traps takes a very real — and lethal — toll on the Bay's blue crabs and other aquatic dwellers.
Researchers found that the roughly 32,000 crab pots pulled from Virginia waters during four winters of collection efforts held more than 25,000 crabs. Three-fifths of them were females, the gender fishery managers have targeted for increased protection.
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Before they began farming in 2001, Homer Walden and Dru Peters knew that agriculture was the single largest source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay. They were aware that raising animals with conventional practices contributes large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus to area waterways. They understood that the same poisons that kill weeds and pests also find their way into creeks and rivers, where they kill other living organisms.
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Eight years ago, it appeared something was wrong with the smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River.
Thousands of young fish were dying in the heat of July and August, many showing lesions on their shimmery skin. In favorite fishing holes, where anglers could once catch close to 100 fish a day, they were finding few fish alive.
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