Underground waterways rush pollution to Chesapeake Bay

Danger hides in buried streams

The Maryland Department of the Environment lets municipal governments enforce their own stormwater regulations. Last year, the General Assembly passed tighter controls on stormwater, recognizing that it carries major pollution into the bay.

"The state of the art is far different today than it was even 10 years ago, and it's continually evolving," said Tom Ballentine, policy director of the Home Builders Association of Maryland. "Two-thirds of Maryland was built before modern stormwater techniques were applied at all."

Today, developers would not be allowed to pave over small and intermittent streams. But that's assuming the city or county knows where those streams are. In Carroll County, for example, floodplain management specialist Jason Stick said he knows of no buried streams. But he acknowledged that his maps are 30 years old and not accurate.

"The data that went into making them was good in 1978, but we have better data now," he said. "There's more development, so the maps would be entirely different."

Kaushal and Elmore have not lost hope that more streams will see the light of day.

On a recent afternoon, the two turned into a cul-de-sac in Timonium and asked a resident if they could trek through his yard. After about 10 minutes, they reached Spring Branch, a babbling brook with sand-colored stones along its banks. Despite rain the day before, little trash had landed, and the water was clear.

Baltimore County restored the stream about a decade ago, and both scientists concluded that the work held up nicely.

"This is a very beautiful suburban stream," Kaushal said. "It would not look like this if it wasn't restored."

[e-mail]