What's the best way to clean up and protect the Chesapeake Bay?

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Companies, officials and environmentalists met Wednesday in Baltimore at the "clean water" trade show to figure that out.

“We need to bring those levels down and keep them down to restore and protect water quality,” said Secretary Robert M. Summers of the Maryland department of the environment.

Environmentalists say collaboration is critical to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

“Stormwater runoff is one of the largest contributors to the bay pollution problem, but it's something we can control with the community so the more we work with businesses and the more we work with development the better impact it will have for the bay,” said Molly Alton Mullins of the Chesapeake Bay trust.

To help the effort, green businesses are promoting their latest innovations, from new rain barrel designs, to environmentally friendly paints and cleaning products, to pervious concrete.

“It can actually handle stormwater management right where it falls, right where nature intended it to go right back into the ground,” Steven Tripp of Chaney Enterprises said of the concrete. “It can percolate into the ground back into aquifers rather than having it run off into streams or waterways in the area.”

Much of the new technology is focused on filtering stormwater runoff. In urban environments like Washington, city planners are turning to so-called bioretention systems: trees or plants, often located on top of storm drains.

“The trash gets collected inside the concrete box out of view of the public. The stormwater flows through the nitrogen and phosphorous is treated and the clean water goes out of the box and into the stormdrain system,” explains Tom Fitzpatrick of Filterra Bioretention Systems.

State secretary Summers calls the bay Maryland's environmental infrastructure. He says cleaning it up should be a priority for both the public and private sectors.

“Without clean water, without a healthy Chesapeake bay, we don't have drinking water, we don't have some of the highest property values in the country, we don't have a basic foundation for our economy,” Summers said.