(BALTIMORE, MD) July 28, 2010 – The Maryland Board of Public Works approved more than $4.4 million in grants to reduce pollution and improve water quality by upgrading a wastewater treatment plant and improving a “living shoreline.” The Board is composed of Governor Martin O’Malley, Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, and Comptroller Peter Franchot.

"These projects significantly reduce nitrogen and sediment pollution, create valuable marsh habitat, and put people to work," said Governor Martin O'Malley.

The following projects were approved in the following locations:

• Denton Wastewater Treatment Plant Enhanced Nutrient Removal Upgrade – Caroline County

  A $4,409,000 Bay Restoration Fund grant, in addition to a previous $200,000 Bay Restoration Fund grant, will fund the planning, design, and construction of the Enhanced Nutrient Removal facilities at the existing 0.8 million-gallon-per-day Denton Wastewater Treatment Plant. After the upgrade, the plant will reduce its nitrogen discharge by 62 percent and phosphorous discharge by 85 percent, significantly reducing nutrients discharged to the Upper Choptank River and the Chesapeake Bay.

• Dennis Point Homeowner’s Association – Anne Arundel County

  This $27,789 Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund grant, in addition to a previous American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant of $529,000, will fund the improvement of a living shoreline by constructing an offshore breakwater, which protects the existing marsh from erosion, and adding additional sand and marsh grass plants to stabilize the shoreline. Once complete, this project will protect an additional 1,600 linear feet of valuable low salt marsh and prevent erosion into the Chesapeake Bay. Living shorelines act as a “filter” to trap and reduce pollution, provide critical habitat for species, and reduce erosion and flooding. Living shorelines are also an adaptation measure recommended by Maryland’s Climate Change Commission to reduce the risk of rising shorelines caused by global warming.

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