The Maryland Department of the Environment has filed suit against a home builder and construction companies, citing repeated environmental violations on its construction site in Harford County.
The violations on the Ridgely’s Reserve development in Joppa, which is still under construction, caused excess sediment to run off into a Gunpowder River tributary called the Foster Branch, according to the complaint filed on behalf of MDE by the state attorney general’s office.
The sediment pollution has resulted in a “die-off” of underwater grasses in the Gunpowder, among other consequences, according to the suit. This vegetation provides a key food source and habitat for river life, such as crabs, fish and waterfowl. Aquatic grasses also produce oxygen, and remove contaminants from waterbodies, but they also can be smothered by excessive runoff.
Surveys conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science found that grasses in the Gunpowder declined about 90% from 2021 to 2023, when photographed by airplane. The scientists noted that the reason for the localized decline were a mystery, but measurements found spikes in turbidity, or the murkiness of the water.