BALTIMORE, MD (March 22, 2013) – Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Alfred H. Foxx announced that the first-ever mass cleanup of the Gwynns Run begins this morning. The stream, behind Carroll Park in southwest Baltimore, is part of the larger Gwynns Run watershed and receives stormwater from a drainage area of approximately 2.6 square miles or 1,000 acres. Litter and debris from streets and alleys in this drainage basin washes into storm drains and ends up in the stream, the Gwynns Falls, the Middle Branch of the Patapsco and, ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.  

Director Foxx, joined by Department of Recreation and Parks Director Ernest W. Burkeen Jr., and others, will kick-off the effort at 7:45 this morning as close to 100 workers begin the massive task. In addition to DPW and Recreation and Parks workers, volunteers from Parks and People and inmates from the Maryland Division of Corrections will be part of this first phase of the cleanup.

“It is our plan to remove all the trash in the stream and along the banks. We also want to point out that everyone can protect our streams, harbor and the Bay through proper trash disposal,” said Director Foxx. “Clean streams and parks are an essential part of the Mayor’s goal to grow our City by 10,000 families over the next decade.”

Trash thrown into, or washed into, storm drains does not go to a treatment facility, but rather directly to our streams and harbor. The impact of this material on the State’s treasure, the Chesapeake Bay, was a driving force behind new state-mandated stormwater fees.