Baltimore County, MD Environmental Protection and Sustainability, 1 Oct 2019

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From YouTube: Watershed Moments: Pollution Detectives

Description

Go underground with Baltimore County natural resource specialists and utilities crew members to locate the source of waterway contaminants.

A

(Slow chiming music).

B

Hi,, I'm baltimore county executive,, johnny olszewski,, and I'm here with megan brosh,, with the baltimore county department of environmental protection and sustainability, who's monitoring to check for pollutants coming out of our storm drain and into the stream.

B

megan,. Can you tell everyone exactly what we're doing here and what we're looking for?, I'm here with my coworker, sarah witcher,.

C

And we're here because a resident called in and complained about, gray, sudsy, water. so,, we're gonna sample the water that runs from the storm drain into the stream and we're gonna test it for contaminants.

C

we're gonna, take a water sample,, a flow measurement,.

C

And we'll do a visual inspection.

B

Okay. (water streaming).

B

So, what's next?.

C

Well, we can take it back to the van and test for contaminants. wanna see? yeah,. That's great.

B

(Chime music).

B

So,, you do this testing right here in the field?

B

yes,. We can have test results in a couple of minutes.

C

So we do these tests on a colorimeter and that's gonna measure the change in color and that change in color equals a level of contaminant.

C

We also do this sampling year-round..

C

We respond to citizen complaints, like this one and we also do routine monitoring..

C

So in a case like this, where I get a high reading, I would first drive the area, looking for the source of pollution.

A

But often what happens, is, I have to examine.

C

The storm drain system., so I start at the bottom, popping man holes and work my way, up, to narrow the area, to look for the source of the pollution..

C

So I've asked the bureau of utilities crew to help us locate the source of the pollution by taking a video of the storm drain.. Would you like to see how that works?, sure, that'd be great.

B

C

(Megan) now we're out here in a residential neighborhood. and we're gonna open this man hole. So we can take a water sample and try to determine the source of the pollution.

C

This is where our friends in the bureau of utilities are a huge help.

C

superintendent. Rodney turner can tell you all about it.

D

The bureau of utilities uses the cctv unit to take an assessment of the storm drain pipes in baltimore county.

B

Thanks rodney., that's really surprising, and I think people watching would be surprised that we run cameras through our pipes..

B

Can you show us what you're doing here? be a pleasure.

D

D

(rodney): this is one of our cctv units.. The county currently has 6 units and they're responsible.

D

For assessing over 2000 miles of sanitary sewer, pipe.

D

And over a 1000 miles of storm drain, pipe.

D

This is one of our arbac rapidview camera systems, here.

D

This camera is capable of cctv and line segments from 6 inch.

D

All the way to 60 inch pipes, enabled to tv in distance.

D

Of over 2000 feet.

B

Thanks rodney. my pleasure. megan,. What does that tell you?.

C

So we can look at this video and see that there's some tap-ins to the storm drain. looks like somebody's connected their washing machine accidentally, to the storm drain instead of the sanitary sewer..

C

So what I'll do is follow up with the business or the property owner,? Let them know the issue and work on getting it corrected..

C

Well, that's really great to know that your team.

B

And public works are coming together to address the issue of pollution in our water ways.

B

What's the takeaway that you want people watching to know about storm drains today?.

C

Water that goes into the storm drain isn't treated..

C

It goes straight to the stream and then to the bay..

C

So we only want rain down the drain.

C

and you can report any suspected pollution to the baltimore county. Website.

B

So only rain down the drain.

B

and, if you see something,, say something. right.. Thank you both, for the good work you both do.. We really appreciate it..

B

This has been a water shed moment from clean, green baltimore. County. follow us on facebook @cleangreenbaltco to find out more ways. You can help keep a clean, green, county., (music).