When it rains in Washington, D.C., city streets and roofs funnel water and pollutants into storm drains, a flow that eventually reaches the Chesapeake Bay. Urban stormwater is the fastest-growing source of the excess nutrients and sediments that degrade the estuary's water quality. Like some other cities, Washington chose a multi-pronged solution that relies on both traditional engineering, like improving its sewage-treatment plant, and a newer approach known as green infrastructure. Workers install rain gardens and green roofs to create pockets of natural landscape across the city that can soak in rainfall and reduce stormwater flows. Can the green methods make enough of a difference to improve water quality? City officials are working to find answers. more . . .
It's costing billions, but it's the biggest public-works project you'll never see. Washington, D.C., is building 18 miles of underground tunnels to store sewage-system overflows, a fix that could help improve water quality in the Chesapeake. Giant tunnel-boring machines are building shafts large enough to fit a Metro rail car. more . . .
An innovative experiment tried to find out if soaking up and cleaning stormwater runoff with plants and trees helped to revitalize struggling neighborhoods in ultra-urban West Baltimore. The answer could sell cities on green solutions to their urban stormwater woes. more . . .
This February three states passed resolutions to honor long-time Chesapeake Bay advocate Bernie Fowler. more . . .
Photo, top: Mark Shanahan of the Friends Committee on National Legislation shows the green roof atop the group’s building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The group installed the roof in 2005 to reduce cooling costs and stormwater runoff. In 2007 the roof and other renovations earned the building a LEED certification (given to environmentally sustainable buildings), the first building on Capitol Hill so honored.
As erosion threatens treasured places around the Chesapeake Bay, communities are turning to nature-based solutions. Explore how living shorelines are helping to protect coasts and heritage on opposite shores of the Bay.
Living shoreline plants have a tough job: they must hold down the sandy shoreline with their roots and ease waves with their stems, all while surviving salty water.
Researchers are on a mission to determine which key components make a living shoreline successful at preventing erosion—but first they must gather crucial data.
Oyster biology is both an obstacle and an opportunity when it comes to living shorelines. Learn how and why oysters are sometimes included in living shoreline projects.
A living shoreline is under construction in Baltimore City—part of a sweeping project that aims to restore more than 50 acres of habitat along 11 miles of shoreline.
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