Editing Harford County, Maryland (section)

===Environmental history===
Harford County has environmental issues in three major areas:  [[land use]], [[water pollution]]/[[urban runoff]], and [[soil contamination]]/[[groundwater contamination]].

As the county sits at the headwaters of the [[Chesapeake Bay]] along the [[Susquehanna River]], it plays a key role in controlling [[sediment]] and [[fertilizer]] [[surface runoff|runoff]] into the bay as well as fostering [[submerged aquatic vegetation]] (SAV) regrowth. The county has had to balance the needs of land owners to practice agriculture and/or pave land (creating [[impervious surface]]s) with effects of runoff into the bay.

Harford County has been burdened by soil contamination and groundwater contamination since the creation of the [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]] in 1917. The military installation performs research for the [[U.S. Army]], including weapons testing, and has released various chemical agents into soil and groundwater, including [[mustard gas]] and [[perchlorate]]. The bordering towns of [[Aberdeen, Maryland|Aberdeen]], [[Edgewood, Maryland|Edgewood]] and [[Joppatowne, Maryland|Joppatowne]] have been affected by this contamination.<ref>U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Philadelphia. [http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/npl/MD2210020036.htm "Aberdeen Proving Ground (Edgewood Area Site) – Current Site Information."] EPA Superfund Site ID No. MD2210020036. May 2008.</ref><ref>EPA. [http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/npl/MD3210021355.htm "Aberdeen Proving Ground (Michaelsville Landfill) – Current Site Information."] EPA Superfund Site ID No. MD3210021355. May 2008.</ref>

Aberdeen Proving Ground contains three [[Superfund]] priority sites {{As of|2006|lc=y}}. Groundwater contamination by [[MTBE]], a mandatory [[gasoline]] additive, has also affected [[Fallston, Maryland|Fallston]].<ref>Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). Baltimore. [http://www.mde.state.md.us/assets/document/Fallston_Presbyterian_PreKfs.pdf "Fact Sheet – Drinking Water Well Impact: Fallston Presbyterian Church/Fallston Pre-Kindergarten, 600 Fallston Road, Fallston, Maryland."]{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} August 27, 2004.</ref><ref>MDE.
[http://www.mde.state.md.us/assets/document/oilcontrol/FallstonFactSheet12-01-04.pdf "Fact Sheet – Drinking Water Well Impact: Fallston Service Center, 602 Fallston Road, Fallston, Harford County, Maryland 21047."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030014622/http://www.mde.state.md.us/assets/document/oilcontrol/FallstonFactSheet12-01-04.pdf |date=October 30, 2005 }} MDE Case No. 9-0816HA. December 1, 2004.</ref>
[[File:2016-06-12 12 35 54 View east along Maryland State Route 138 (Troyer Road) entering Harford County, Maryland from Baltimore County, Maryland.jpg|thumb|Entering Harford County, Maryland from Baltimore County, Maryland]]
Harford County also faces controversy from residents living near [[Scarboro Landfill|Scarboro Landfill and Harford Waste Disposal Center]], the only municipal [[landfill]]. The landfill, approved to triple in size in 2007, is the subject of complaints by neighbors of operating violations, such as large areas of open trash and blown litter; [[leachate]] breaks which contaminate area residential wells and flow into [[Deer Creek (Maryland)|Deer Creek]], a tributary of the Susquehanna River; and increased health problems.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}