Olszewski "Goes Underground" to Find and Fix Pollution in Storm Drains

Short Documentary Spotlights the County's Storm Drain Monitoring Efforts

County Executive Johnny Olszewski teamed up with County natural resource specialists and a utilities crew to locate the source of waterway contaminants flowing through the County's storm drain system into a local stream. Using field testing and remote-controlled pipeline cameras, Olszewski and his fellow pollution detectives take viewers inside a crucial but rarely credited part of our local water cycle-the storm drain system.

His field trip is captured in a short documentary entitled "Watershed Moments-Pollution Detectives." The five-minute video shows footage from inside the underground storm drain pipelines, and spotlights the County's proactive storm drain monitoring program and pollution prevention efforts. It presents the importance of keeping storm drains clean, as they feed directly into local streams, and suggests ways that residents can be involved in this objective

"Most people have no idea that storm drains flow directly into nearby streams with limited or no filtering or treatment," Olszewski said. "Our motto is 'only rain down the drain,' and if you see or smell possible pollution in a stream, please report it to the County so we can investigate."

The video is the second episode in the "Watershed Moments" series and was produced by the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability in collaboration with the Baltimore County Department of Public Works Bureau of Utilities and Comcast Cablevision. It is posted on the County's website, and can be viewed and shared on Youtube.