Concerns about water supply bubbling up

Wells, septic systems seen as limit on growth in western Howard

The Howard County water wars have begun.

It used to be that the western part of the county was all farms and two-lane country roads, and wells and septic systems served the occasional farmhouse or school just fine.

But now that's changing, and western county residents are concerned that development in the west - which is supposed to be the county's slow-growth area - will overburden wells and septic systems, threatening their health and quality of life.

"People are building houses, and they are expecting to get tremendous amounts of flow into these mansions they are building out there," said Jacob Brodsky, an engineer with the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. "It would be tragic if the wells dried up one day and these became ghost towns."

Joseph W. Rutter Jr., director of the county Department of Planning and Zoning, said there is no danger that the amount of development planned for the west will overwhelm wells and septic systems. He said the Department of Public Works surveyed the land in the early 1990s and found that the aquifer had "way more volume capacity" than development planned for the west could possibly demand.

Rutter said if people don't want development in the west, they should say that, rather than trying to turn it into a health issue. He said the Maryland Department of the Environment regulates septic systems and would not approve them if they were unsafe.

"It's not an evil plot on the part of Joe Rutter," he said.

Residents are not so sure. Septic systems are a source of contention in Glenelg, where plans to expand the high school have sparked a debate over how to handle the extra sewage, and in Glenwood, where people worry that more than a hundred proposed condominium units and a private school for hundreds of children would overwhelm septic systems and pollute water.

On top of that, more houses are going up in the western part of the county, which could increase the chances of dry or contaminated wells. According to the 2000 General Plan, still in draft form, there will be a cap of 250 new houses a year there. Still, it is expected that thousands more houses will be built in the western part of the county during the next 20 years.

Some landowners in the west have polluted water. In Lisbon, about 10 properties have contaminated water from a gasoline spill more than 20 years ago. Although many people are resigned to the nonpotable water, installing water filters or buying bottled water, one farmer, Lambert Cissel, is calling for public water in the town.

Cissel says drinking water is a basic right. His critics say polluted water in Lisbon aside, Cissel owns hundreds of acres of developable land in the west and would profit handsomely if the county were to extend water lines.

That debate, at least for now, is moot, Rutter said. He said it cost the county $10 million to extend public water lines to the Alpha Ridge landfill several years ago and Lisbon, farther west, would cost more.

"It's just not economically appropriate for taxpayers," Rutter said. "It would be cheaper to buy the properties and just let them sit."

Battles over water and sewer in the west are likely to intensify as development pressures on the west increase and land values rise. In General Plan discussions during the past year, public sewer and water extensions proved the most contentious issues. Most residents in public meetings spoke out against extending sewer and water lines west because that would encourage development.

Rutter has said the General Plan - which will serve as a blueprint for growth in the county for 20 years - will keep public sewer and water lines where they are, except in piecemeal cases.

"Each [property owner] will have to come in and show why there's a specific error," he said. "That's not going to happen with thousands of acres being added."

Development in the west could increase the potential for well contaminations, said Bert F. Nixon, director of the Community Environmental Health Program for the Howard County Health Department. And Brodsky said he is worried that nobody in the county really knows how much water is available in the west and how much development that part of the county can sustain.

Susan Gray, a Howard lawyer who often represents residents in battles with developers, said she thinks it is inevitable that public utilities will be expanded to the west some day. She said the county has a history of allowing development outside public sewer and water lines and then extending the lines for health reasons.

As an example, she points to Clarksville, west of Route 108, which received public water as part of the 1990 General Plan after a county-owned salt-storage facility contaminated the water. Public sewer lines followed, making way for Columbia's newest village, River Hill.

Gray said that if the county allows condominiums and school expansions in the west, it will one day have to extend public utilities to mitigate problems that will arise.