Md. to tighten runoff, erosion controls ANNAPOLIS, MD (wesm) - (AP) Builders in Maryland will soon have to do more to keep soil from washing off construction sites when it rains.

In a settlement to a legal challenge by watershed groups that was announced Thursday, the Maryland Department of the Environment pledges to update erosion control and building site sediment runoff requirements in the next year.

The University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic represented the Waterkeeper Alliance and 12 watershed groups in challenging the state's proposed construction runoff controls as too lax.

The department also agrees to give closer scrutiny to larger construction projects, requiring individual permits for any that clear more than 150 acres.

State officials say runoff contributes 13 percent of all the nitrogen fouling the Chesapeake Bay.

--- Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com © Copyright 2009, wesm