Waterfront Partnership report shows impact of treatment plant woes on water quality

Baltimore’s Waterfront Partnership released its annual Harbor Heartbeat report card Thursday, depicting the stark increase in bacteria issues in the waters close to the city’s Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant. For several years, water samples collected by the nonprofit Blue Water Baltimore found that the river near the troubled treatment plant’s outfall was safe to swim in 100% of the time — at least during dry weather. But during 2021 monitoring, testing showed the area was only safe 40% of the time it was sampled. At all of Blue Water Baltimore’s other sampling sites in the Inner Harbor and along its tributaries, that percentage either improved or stayed the same from 2020 to 2021, according to the partnership’s report.