The suburban and urban areas that surround the Chesapeake Bay are among the largest sources of its pollution. As one of Montgomery County’s largest facilities, we must manage our water resources carefully to minimize our effect on the environment.

As rainwater runs across streets and lawns it picks up oils, fertilizers and other pollutants. Polluted rainwater then pours into the storm drains. These storm drains empty into our streams, then Rock Creek, then the Potomac River, and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay.

Forests and no-mow zones along stream banks at the Bethesda campus improve stormwater quality by filtering out contaminants that would otherwise find their way to the Bay. Ensuring that we do not allow trash, chemicals or oils to be washed down the storm drains also protects our water resources. Remember-nothing in the drain but rain!

Wastewater is another source of water pollution. Strict measures are in place to ensure that wastewater from NIH facilities does not contain chemical residues from research activities. The wastewater from NIH then passes to the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant for treatment prior to being released to the Potomac River.

Our 20,000 employees are major users of water resources. We discharge 708.3 million gallons of wastewater per year into the sewer system each day. This water is treated at the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant and released into the Potomac River. Much of the Washington, DC, metropolitan area’s drinking water comes from the Potomac River.

Making sure that water discharged from workplace facilities does not contain unwanted chemicals is important to protect public health and the environment.

Conserving water at the NIH is also important to protecting water quality. Large quantities of water are necessary to provide employee services and to conduct research activities. Limiting unnecessary water use protects water quality and saves the NIH money.

Related References and Links

• EPA Wastewater Information
• EPA Storm water Information
• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
• State of Maryland Oil Pollution and Tank Management Information
• State of Maryland Urban and Community Forestry Information
• State of Maryland Water Conservation Information
• State of Maryland Water Programs
• Technology Matrix : NIH implements many strategies for conserving water.  As new technologies are developed we consider whether they can be incorporated at NIH.  This spreadsheet provides information on the economics of many technologies in use or evaluated for use at NIH.