After decades - no, centuries - of abuse and neglect, Baltimore's ailing harbor may finally be getting the attention it needs.
Concerned citizens, scientists and community and business leaders have come together to take a hard look at how to heal the northwest and middle branches of the Patapsco River, the most degraded tributary in the Chesapeake Bay.
It won't be easy. As I report in today's Baltimore Sun, the harbor is continually assaulted by torrents of trash, sewage leaks, pet manure and other pollution washing off streets and parking lots whenever it rains. Its sediments also are contaminated in many places, largely a legacy of the city's industrial and shipping past.
There's still plenty of life in the water - crabs, rockfish, white perch, even a roving Florida manatee apparently camped out here last summer. It's just not that hospitable to people, littered with flotsam and jetsam and with "shockingly high" levels of potentially disease-causing bacteria, particularly after heavy rains but nearly all the time in some places. To see where the harbor's funy (and relatively clean), check out this interactive map. People also are warned to limit their consumption of crabs and certain fish caught there because they may harbor low levels of toxic contaminants.