Protecting the Chesapeake

This year, we will be advocating for:

If your home is in a rural area in Maryland, your sinks, toilets, showers, dishwasher, and washing machine probably empty into a septic tank. How does a septic tank work? Watery waste, or effluent, is most of the waste, where anaerobic bacteria begin to break it down. The sludge, or inorganic solids which are the leftovers of bacteria digesting organic effluent, falls to the bottom of the tank.

In Abingdon in Harford County, a developer has proposed to build a new "Abingdon Business Park:" three e-commerce/warehouse facilities, four restaurants, two flex retail spaces, one hotel, one convenience store and additional flex spaces, requiring the clear-cutting of 226 acres of a 330-acre forest. While sometimes development on forested lands is necessary, the developer has not proven that the negative externalities to the public are outweighed by the benefits, or that they considered putting their project on sites that would have less of an impact on water quality.