National Aquarium Wins Grant to Help Improve Patapsco Water Quality
May 2008 -- The National Aquarium in Baltimore’s Center for Aquatic Life and Conservation will receive a $200,000 cleanup grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s brownfields program to remediate a 13-acre site on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River.
The site, which will eventually be home to an Animal Care Education and Conservation Center, is contaminated with heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and semi-volatile organic compounds. The cleanup is expected to help improve water quality in the Middle Branch.
Other plans for the site include a fishing pier, public access trail and a waterfront and environmental demonstration park.
The National Aquarium is one of several sites in Baltimore and more than 150 sites across the Bay watershed in the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network.
Learn more about this cleanup project at the U.S. EPA’s website.