ANNAPOLIS, MD (July 31, 2003) -- Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. announced Board of Public Works approval yesterday of a $150,000 grant to Allegany County for the Braddock Estates Stormwater Project.

“This project will reduce urban water quality pollution,” Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said. “Non-point source pollution, like stormwater runoff, is one of the major contributors to the degradation of Maryland’s waterways. Stormwater management controls intercept runoff from developed areas, filtering and treating stormwater runoff, and then discharges it at a controlled rate into the streams, rivers, and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.”

Urban stormwater runoff can contain trash, oil and rubber from cars, fertilizers and pesticides applied to lawns, sediment from bare or poorly vegetated ground, and other pollutants that can negatively impact local streams and the ecosystems they support.

The project involves the construction of a stormwater bio-retention pond to treat uncontrolled runoff from an older subdivision in the City of Frostburg near the headwaters of George’s Creek, an area noted in Maryland’s Clean Water Action Plan.

Total cost of the project is $200,000, of which $50,000 is the local share.

“This project is an important step in our efforts to restore George’s Creek,” said Craig Hartsock, district manager of the Allegany Soil Conservation District. “We are extremely pleased that we’ve been afforded this opportunity to address water quality problems within this priority watershed.”

Construction began earlier this month and is expected to be complete next month.

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