Maryland's state and local governments are not spending enough money to control storm-water pollution and aren't doing enough either to keep up public water and wastewater systems, according to a new report card.
The Maryland section of the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the whole state a D for its generally anemic storm-water cleanup efforts, a C-minus to the Baltimore area for inadequate drinking-water reservoirs and aging water distribution pipes, and a C for the region's aging, leaking and overflowing sewer system.
Harsh as those grades seem, each of them was at least a little better than the average grade the engineers' group gave for the nation as a whole. The report card rated all kinds of infrastructure, including transit, roads, bridges and dams. Overall, the state got a C-minus.
(Man on porch watches flooding of Baltimore's Argonne Drive from broken 42-inch water main. 2009 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)