CALL FOR CLEAN WATER:
First Baltimore Floatilla raises awareness of need to clean up city’s waterways
Hundreds of people in kayaks, canoes, stand-up paddle boards and dragon boats paddled more than two miles from Canton Waterfront Park to near the Maryland Science Center for the first Baltimore Floatilla for a Healthy Harbor.
Tiara Barnes knows the Baltimore harbor is dirty. The 26-year-old used to lead youth groups in canoes and kayaks to remove trash from the water as part of the city Department of Recreation and Parks’ “Canoe and Scoop” program.
Her advocacy for clean water motivated her to paddle her kayak in the Inner Harbor on Saturday as part of the first Baltimore Floatilla for a Healthy Harbor, which organizers hope will become an annual event. Barnes and hundreds of others in kayaks, canoes, stand-up paddle boards and dragon boats paddled more than two miles from Canton Waterfront Park to near the Maryland Science Center.
Passing tourists, joggers and others along the waterfront looked on as the group raised their paddles, clapped and cheered to bring attention to water quality in Baltimore.
William Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, led the group in chants of “Fix the pipes!” — a call for city officials to repair the city’s sewers, which are prone to leaks and can overflow during periods of heavy rainfall.
“We shouldn’t have to fight for clean water,” Baker said.
After missing an earlier deadline to repair the sewer system, the city entered into a new agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of the Environment on June 1 to spend $1.2 billion on fixing the system over the next 15 years to prevent waste from entering waterways.
Sewage backups also afflicted about 5,000 Baltimore homes last year. A Baltimore Sun investigation revealed that the city rarely reimburses residents for costly cleanups.
The Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative set a goal of making the city’s showcase waterway swimmable and fishable by 2020. But the group’s 2015 water health report card gave the Inner Harbor an “F” in water quality.
Healthy Harbor Initiative director Adam Lindquist said he wants participants in Saturday’s Floatilla to push for more public works funding. Through social media and local outdoors groups, the event registered 250 participants; an additional 112 were placed on a waitlist, he said.
People went paddling recreationally in Baltimore more than 7,000 times in 2015, said Lindquist, adding that more people are exploring the harbor each year.
Marshall Drecchio and Merri Raleigh guided their kayaks Saturday along the Patapsco River with a group of more than 30 people from Chesapeake Kayak Adventures. Drecchio, a lifetime Baltimore resident, said he used to eat oysters near the harbor with his father and saw the area transformed from an industrial waterfront to the tourist destination it is today.
Having kayaked for more than 10 years, Drecchio said he wants people to understand the impact their actions have on local waterways.
“Anything that falls in the street, no matter where you are in the city … it’s going to end up in the water after the first thunderstorm,” he said.
Michael Hankin, board chairman for the Waterfront Partnership, said the Floatilla was a chance to highlight his organization’s work and its collaboration with businesses and nonprofits along the Inner Harbor, such as investment firm Brown Advisory, where Hankin is president and CEO, and the National Aquarium.
Mr. Trash Wheel also made an appearance at the Floatilla. The trash-collecting machine typically stationed at the mouth of the Jones Falls rakes trash from the water using power generated by water currents and the sun. The wheel has removed 420 tons of trash from the water since May 2014, according to Waterfront Partnership’s website.