Jones Falls
Jones Falls | |
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Western Run, Moores Branch |
The Jones Falls is a 17.9-mile-long (28.8 km)
The Jones Falls valley has a long history in the city of Baltimore as a transportation corridor. The valley of the Jones Falls carries Falls Road (which is numbered as
The Jones Falls is spanned by many bridges within Baltimore City's borders, and often the
Course
The Jones Falls begins as a small stream in
The Jones Falls travels southeast for 1.5 miles (2.4 km), passing through Lake Roland Park, until it meets Lake Roland, an impounding of the stream. (39.39069° -76.64639°)[1] In Lake Roland, Roland Run and Towson Run both join.[1]
Not long after leaving the lake, the Jones Falls enters
About 0.6 miles (1 km) after Stony Run, and after passing by the
Future
As far back as 1990, city-sponsored planning studies showed support for the idea of partially demolishing I-83 and thus daylighting the Jones Falls.[3] More recent suggestions include a long-range plan proposed by Marc Szarkowski, while he was working for the Philadelphia firm Dremodeling, and a more immediate and concrete plan commissioned by the city from Baltimore-based Rummel, Klepper & Kahl in 2009.[4]
The Szarkowski vision is wide ranging, including infill housing, an expansion of Penn Station, a system of roundabouts, a multi-story sculpture and several new, buried transit lines.[5] Szarkowski has publicly acknowledged the extremely ambitious and long-range nature of the plan.[6]
The RK&K study was more limited, assessing only the area from Fayette Street to Chase Street.[7] The long-range Szarkowski concept includes selected portions of the watershed from as far north as Woodberry, though with significantly less engineering detail included.
A civic group, Friends of the Jones Falls, is active in advocating for the daylighting of the river.
Legal issues
On April 5, 2023, Blue Water Baltimore, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, filed a lawsuit against Fleischmann's Vinegar Company Inc., the largest vinegar manufacturer in the U.S.[8] The company was accused of polluting the water channels in Jones Falls with illegal acidic chemicals, causing around 1,000 fish to die beginning in 2021.[8] The lawsuit also stated that the members of Blue Water Baltimore discovered dead fish and eels in the water streams, illegal chemicals pumping out from unauthorized extra pipes on the property into the Jones Falls stream, and various highly acidic toxins around the foundation of the plant.[8] The Maryland Department of the Environment also filed its own lawsuit through the U.S. District Court of Baltimore the same day.[8] Reportedly, the company bypassed safety requirements when discharging treated water into the stream to cool down the vinegar, including the removal of chlorine.[8] Additionally, according to an inspection by state regulators, they had discharged more than 643,300 gallons of water into the stream per day, which was more than double the amount of the company's original estimation of 295,000 gallons.[8]
In December 2023, as a result of the lawsuits, the Baltimore plant of Fleischmann's Vinegar Company had to shut down production, according to the owner of the plant.[9] The announcement of the shutdown came the same day as environmental testing at the facility from the state was planned to commence.[9] A spokesperson for Kerry Group, an Ireland-based parent company for the facility, stated that, “The company will transfer production from Baltimore to other facilities as part of a broader consolidation of activity within the network,”.[9] The company did not comment on if there were any layoffs caused by the shutdown, but they did not file layoff notices with the Maryland Department of Labor.[9] A test from the Maryland Department of the Environment conducted on Dec. 20, 2023 found that a small amount of green dye was visible in Jones Falls just below the back wall of the facility.[9] Earlier that day, Maryland environmental officials stated that red and green dye might be seen in the Jones Falls waters, however this was not said to pose a threat to life.[9]
See also
- List of rivers in Maryland
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed April 1, 2011
- ^ [1], American Whitewater Jones Falls - Lake Roland to Round Falls.
- ^ "Urban Design design group downtown development". The Baltimore Sun. 10 September 1990. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
- ^ "Elevated expressway: Jones Falls expressway east side". The Baltimore Sun. 17 May 2009.
- ^ Szarkowski, Marc (2011). "Jones Falls Valley, Baltimore" (PDF). Marc Szarkowski. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-14. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ Szarkowski, Marc (7 September 2011). "Unlocking the potential of the Jones Falls Valley corridor". Envision Baltimore. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ According to secondary materials from the company: [2][permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f "Major vinegar maker accused of polluting Baltimore's Jones Falls waterway, killing 1,000 fish". WYPR. 2023-04-06. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
- ^ a b c d e f "Fleischmann's Vinegar shuts down Baltimore plant amid pollution lawsuits". Baltimore Sun. 2023-12-20. Retrieved 2024-01-28.