Maryland commits $1.7M for environmental projects on Back River, Patapsco watersheds

Todd Karpovich, Baltimore Sun on Apr 15, 2025

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The state of Maryland is allocating $1.7 million for a series of community-led environmental projects for the Back River and Patapsco River watersheds, which encompass Baltimore City and portions of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, and Howard counties.

The funding was announced at a news conference Tuesday at Cox’s Point Park in Essex on Back River, hosted by the Maryland Department of the Environment, Chesapeake Bay Trust and Mayor Brandon Scott.

The selected projects will help support trash removal, improve stormwater management and expand green spaces.

“One of the reasons we are here today is to celebrate and emphasize that Maryland is committed to environmental justice, environmental protection and economic prosperity,” Maryland Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain said at the blustery news conference “We believe that everyone should have access to clear air, clean water and clean land.”

The grant money comes from the settlement of a suit, filed by Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown on behalf of the Department of the Environment, requiring Baltimore City to address unauthorized discharges of pollution from the state’s two largest sewage treatment plants.

Among the 21 projects selected for the new funding is a grant to the Back River Restoration Committee to design and build a trash wheel that will be installed where the most trash accumulates on the river.

Some of the other projects include community litter and stream cleanups, rain barrels and permeable pavement, youth educational and workforce programs, and developing plants that grow naturally in the local area.

Some of the organizations that will be awarded the largest grants include the Living Classrooms Foundation in Baltimore City, which received $222,539 to install greening practices that will improve water in the Lancaster Street canal. The 6th Branch, a community service organization founded by U.S. veterans in Baltimore, will receive $154,263 for residents, students, and community leaders to participate in interactive workshops to install pollinator gardens at urban farms.

“We have a long way to go,” Scott said Tuesday at the news conference. “We know that Patapsco and Back River really hadn’t had the investment they needed in my lifetime, and I turned 41 years old last week. … We are excited to be where we are today but we have a long way to go. We know where we were a few short years ago and you can see that we have taken leaps and bounds since then.

“But this is not us celebrating. This is us acknowledging the great progress that’s been made but also acknowledging we have a lot more work to do.”

In addition, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has included more than $400 million in his 2026 budget for wastewater plant upgrades and other projects related to the Chesapeake Bay.

The improvements for cleaner waterways are expected to boost tourism in the state, which generates about $3.2 billion a year in economic activity. Improvements to the environment also are expected to help the local seafood industry, which contributes nearly $600 million to the state’s economy annually, according to Maryland economic officials.

McIlwain touted economic development projects, such as the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge that will be “bigger and better than before.” Expansion at the Port of Baltimore with a new 165-acre container terminal at Sparrows Point is expected to create up to 1,000 new jobs.

“The governor has made it very clear that we are not only protecting the environment and communities, we are growing the economy in Maryland,” McIlwain said, “and Baltimore is a great example of that kind of economic growth.”

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