Baltimoreans have a nifty new way to get the lowdown on how clean - or polluted - their streams and harbor are.
The Baltimore Harbor Water Alert website, which debuts Wednesday, features an interactive map tracking water quality from the suburban headwaters of the Jones Falls and Gwynns Falls all the way through the city to where the Patapsco River meets the Chesapeake Bay.
Blue Water Baltimore, the local watershed advocacy group, and the Healthy Harbor Initiative have teamed up to produce the new map, which provides regular updates on a variety of indicators of how safe the water is for people and fish.
"We hope that community leaders, policy-makers, and everyone passionate about clean water will use the HarborAlert website to help raise awareness and interest in their communities for reducing water pollution and to make informed decisions before kayaking or swimming in their local river," said Alice Volpitta, water quality manager for Blue Water Baltimore.
This is a more comprehensive and snazzier map than the one Blue Water Baltimore produced a few years ago that tracked bacteria counts around the Inner Harbor and Middle Branch of the Patapsco. It still opens by displaying those very important indicators of whether people risk getting sick by going in the water, with the latest measurements showing that the Gwynns Falls and most of the Jones Falls are still plagued by polluted runoff and sewage leaks or overflows.