Dry discussion: Towns meet with county on water issues

Friday, Feb. 8, 2008

Water and other environmental issues were on a lot of minds during a meeting Monday between county and town leaders.

The Charles County commissioners met with the mayors and council members of La Plata and Indian Head at the Waldorf Jaycees center to discuss the drop in groundwater levels in regional aquifers and efforts to conserve the resource.

Leaders also discussed future uses for treated sewage water and instituting more ‘‘green” infrastructure in building plans.

It is critical that the towns and county work together to conserve groundwater because of the dwindling supply of the resource being pumped out of regional aquifers, said commissioners’ President F. Wayne Cooper (D).

‘‘We have to work together to plan our future,” he said, adding that the use of treated effluent water from local wastewater treatment plants through a closed loop system is a good head start in tackling the problem.

The county recently signed an agreement with Mirant Mid-Atlantic LLC — the company that operates a coal-fired electricity generation plant located on the Potomac River in Newburg — to supply effluent water to the plant rather than the plant pulling 1.7 million gallons of water a day out of the Patuxent aquifer to operate wet scrubbers that will be constructed at the facility.

The effluent will be supplied to the plant from the Mattawoman treatment plant in Mason Springs.

La Plata officials are also considering a similar agreement to get rid of the town’s effluent.

The technology is very advanced, Cooper said.

‘‘The county is ahead of the state; we’re leading by example,” he said. ‘‘We’re way ahead of the game with the things that we’re doing. If we can gradually change over where we’re using effluent water from our treatment plant it would take the burden off the aquifers.”

According to the latest data from the U.S. Geological Survey, county residents and businesses are pulling between 12 million and 13 million gallons a day of groundwater from aquifers in the region, said Jason Groth, the county’s program manager for adequate public facilities.

The information helps the towns and county plan future growth based on the amount of water already withdrawn from the aquifers and how many more gallons will be needed, Cooper said.

La Plata Town Manager Daniel Mears said water use increases 55 percent in town during the warm months when people are watering lawns, washing cars and filling swimming pools. The town is considering a policy that would impose higher water fees on customers who use more than the average amount of the resource in their homes.

The council has also discussed an amendment to the town code that would mandate that new construction in La Plata be fitted with irrigation systems that would enable homeowners to use treated effluent to water lawns and flush toilets.

Charles County recently appointed a water resources advisory committee to formulate recommendations on how to deal with the shrinking supply of groundwater in the region, Cooper said.

The county is also scheduled to meet with Prince George’s County officials to cement an agreement established about a decade ago that would enable the county to withdraw up to 5 million gallons of Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission water a day to curb some of the use of groundwater in the area, Cooper said.

A new state law — HB 1141 — enacted last year by the Maryland General Assembly also mandates that counties and towns start seriously looking at ways to conserve groundwater, including the incorporation of a water resource element in updates of local comprehensive plans.

The law also mandates that jurisdictions include priority preservation areas and municipal growth projections in comprehensive plans, said Cathy Hardy, the county’s program manager for community planning.

The towns and county have already begun the process of incorporating the elements in their plans.

‘‘It’s abundantly clear that we need to develop a water resource element in our comprehensive plans,” said Indian Head Mayor Dennis Scheessele. ‘‘We’re all working off the same aquifers. We need to manage the resource together.”

The Maryland Department of Planning wants local jurisdictions to keep more accurate data on current and projected water supply needs, Hardy said. Counties and towns also need to assess the amount of groundwater being used by private deep wells and commercial and industrial facilities.

‘‘The state wants a more dedicated assessment so our projected growth is in line with the water supply,” she said.

‘‘Individual wells are in the same aquifers that we’re in,” Cooper said. ‘‘This is a regional problem. I’m hoping that the Tri-County Council [for Southern Maryland] will take this on this year.”

The elements must be incorporated into local comprehensive plans by Oct. 1, 2009, Hardy said. If a jurisdiction does not comply, officials will not be able to change the zoning of any property in their jurisdiction until it is in compliance with the law.

Mears said that towns and counties throughout Southern Maryland should jump on the conservation bandwagon. La Plata’s water is withdrawn from the lower Patapsco aquifer, which is rapidly being depleted, he said.

‘‘If we [Charles County, La Plata and Indian Head] can reinforce a spirit of cooperation in conserving water it may make it easier to bring in other counties in Southern Maryland, as well,” he said. ‘‘A lot can be gained by cooperating on this.”

nmcconaty@somdnews.com