Gallons A Day

Carroll County is appealing a November decision by the state Water Resources Administration to grant a large water appropriation permit to Black & Decker (U.S.) Inc. for a cleanup of underground water contamination at its Hampstead plant.The county asked for a hearing on the decision in a Dec. 10 letter to Gary Setzer of the Water Resources Administration.County officials want the state to reduce the amount of water granted under Black & Decker's permit from an average of 432,000 gallons a day to an average of 200,000 gallons a day.The county also is seeking a reduction in the withdrawal allowed during the month of maximum use, from 720,000 gallons a day to 300,000 gallons a day.The county's letter said the amount of water granted in the permit is unreasonable, and that the aquifer is incapable of supporting a continuing withdrawal on that scale.

Harford officials announced Monday that the county will provide the city of Aberdeen with the additional water needed to meet its development. The city is growing rapidly along with Aberdeen Proving Ground, which will add about 10,000 jobs in the next two years as a result of BRAC, the nationwide military expansion. The city will require more water to meet the demands of commercial and residential development associated with the Army post's expansion. The new contract will allow Aberdeen to draw as much as 600,000 gallons a day from the county water supply, with an option to increase that amount by another 300,000 gallons in the future.

Hampstead officials are asking residents to voluntarily conserve water at homes and businesses.Residents are being asked to curtail watering their lawns and washing their vehicles to ensure an adequate water supply for the rest of the summer. Voluntary cooperation could help the town avoid a ban on outdoor water use, officials said.The water level in town wells has dropped significantly because of the heat and drought.Hampstead water use typically ranges from 340,000 to 360,000 gallons a day. Water use has increased dramatically to more than 500,000 gallons a day since the drought began.

The Carroll County commissioners signed a $1.25 million contract yesterday to purchase a New Windsor-area quarry that could yield about 300,000 gallons of water a day as a potential backup source for the water-depleted city of Westminster. It will be the first water source purchased for Westminster since the city signed a consent order with the Maryland Department of the Environment in April, ending a six-month building moratorium because of the water deficit. That agreement mentions the quarry as a potential emergency source during times of drought.

The Maryland Department of the Environment has told Carroll County that it may conditionally increase the capacity of the Hampstead Wastewater Treatment Plant to 600,000 gallons a day from 500,000 gallons, county Public Works Director Keith R. Kirschnick told the county commissioners yesterday.Mr. Kirschnick said the increase is conditional on county agreement to install a new sludge press, sand filter and other equipment at the plant by December 1994.If the deadline is not met, he said, the county could be liable for a fine of $100 a day.Mr.

A Pennsylvania company won the contract to build a treatment facility for a new well that is expected to add 300,000 gallons a day to Westminster's water supply. Johnston Construction Co. of Dover, Pa., won with a bid of about $1.03 million for the Carfaro well in the Furnace Hills area, said Thomas B. Beyard, the city's director of planing and public works. The project is covered in the city's capital budget. The small building is expected to take about nine months to complete. The project will include a filtration facility, pipes, valves and a small treatment plant, which will feed the city system.

Residents of Carroll's most populated area are using more than a million gallons of water less a day this month than in May, county officials said yesterday.In South Carroll, home to about 28,000 people, water use dropped from a record daily high of nearly 3.5 million gallons in May to 2.2 million gallons a day for the first 22 days of August.The county banned all outdoor water use in South Carroll June 1, and modified the ban 15 days later to outdoor use on alternating days."I think people are taking the water crisis seriously," said Gary Horst, county director of enterprise and recreation services.

The city of Westminster plans not to contest Wakefield Valley Golf Club Inc.'s new state permit to pump 110,000 additional gallons of water a day out of the limestone formation that underlies the valley.But city officials are worried that the permit might hurt Westminster's pending request to increase its water allowance from the Wakefield and Carfaro wells by an annual average of 500,000 gallons a day. The city currently is allowed to pump an average of 400,000 gallons a day from the wells.

Maryland and Carroll County administrators hammered out an agreement Friday that will increase the water supply to South Carroll, the county's most populated area and one troubled by seasonal shortages, with new wells.The state Water Utility and Supply Agreement will allow Carroll to build five wells, a small filtration plant and connecting lines on state-owned land at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville. The operation will supplement the Freedom District Plant, which can treat as much as 3 million gallons daily from the Liberty Reservoir.

County officials are negotiating with the state and the city of Baltimore to increase the water supply to the Freedom Area, Carroll's most populous region.To proceed with a $5 million expansion to the Freedom Water Treatment Plant, the county would need about 2 more acres along Liberty Reservoir. Once the addition is completed, the plant could process another 2 million gallons a day from the reservoir. The construction and increased allocation need approval from Baltimore, which owns the water and the surrounding property.

Baltimore's Board of Estimates approved an agreement yesterday that will allow Carroll County to move forward with a $14 million expansion of the Freedom Water Treatment Plant in South Carroll. The agreement was among several documents that the five-member board, which includes Mayor Martin O'Malley, approved without discussion "They called and told me it was all approved," Douglas E. Myers, Carroll's director of public works, said yesterday. "It is a done deal that only needs the city's seal stamped on it before they mail it to me. This is a real relief."

Pump tests produced a good yield from two new wells in Taneytown, where the water supply has been a major concern during the past year, officials said. The city will build two well houses, with pipes, pumps and chlorinating systems, said City Manager Gary W. Hardman. The average cost to set up one municipal well is about $350,000. "We hope two more new wells will be up and operating by June or July," he said. The 72-hour pump tests showed flows of 68 gallons per minute from one well, and 173 from the second, or about 98,000 and 250,0000 gallons a day, he said.

State environmental officials have cut more than a third of the amount of water the county can draw from a long-planned series of wells in Sykesville. Carroll officials had hoped these wells would expedite plans to augment the supply in South Carroll, the county's most populous and fastest-growing area, which suffers from seasonal water shortages. The county had tested seven well sites and assessed the combined potential at an average of about 730,000 gallons a day. But the state set the daily average at 468,000 gallons.

State environmental officials have cut more than a third of the amount of water the county can draw from a long-planned series of wells in Sykesville. Carroll officials had hoped these wells would expedite plans to augment the supply in South Carroll, the county's most populous and fastest-growing area, which suffers from seasonal water shortages. The county had tested seven well sites and assessed the combined potential at an average of about 730,000 gallons a day. But the state set the daily average at 468,000 gallons.

The Manchester Town Council has proposed a balanced budget with no change in the tax rate, although water bills are likely to increase under a separate ordinance. Under the proposed $1.2 million budget, the tax rate would remain at 18.4 cents per $100 of assessed property value, said Kelly J. Baldwin, the town's finance director. The quarterly water fee would increase from $1.80 per 1,000 gallons to $2.10, Baldwin said. "The fund has to be self-sufficient according to the town code," said Councilman Ryan Warner, who estimated that a homeowner would pay an additional $3.60 per quarter under the new water rate.

From the restored 19th- century truss bridge at the edge of his 200-acre farm, Monroe Duke watches Deer Creek kick up a riffle of white water as it meanders past on its way to the Susquehanna River. Duke's farm is a few miles from the creek's juncture with the Susquehanna south of Darlington. In its nearly 40-mile course across Harford County, Deer Creek waters animals, fields and wells as it winds through parks, forests and farmland. The creek, about 2 feet deep on average and 80 feet wide at most, is home to diverse plants and animals, including rare bog turtles and one of the state's best-known shad runs.

Harford officials announced Monday that the county will provide the city of Aberdeen with the additional water needed to meet its development. The city is growing rapidly along with Aberdeen Proving Ground, which will add about 10,000 jobs in the next two years as a result of BRAC, the nationwide military expansion. The city will require more water to meet the demands of commercial and residential development associated with the Army post's expansion. The new contract will allow Aberdeen to draw as much as 600,000 gallons a day from the county water supply, with an option to increase that amount by another 300,000 gallons in the future.

As a drought that began in June threatens to stretch through the summer, about 27,000 Carroll residents in three towns and in the Eldersburg area are being told to halt or restrict outdoor water use.Mount Airy and Hampstead officials banned outside water use Monday. Manchester residents have been under a similar restriction for a month. County water customers in Freedom District are allowed outdoor water use on alternate days, depending on street address.Taneytown residents, who have been asked to conserve water voluntarily, may soon face a mandatory ban. The City Council is scheduled to discuss a drop in well-water levels at a work session tonight and could act at its meeting Monday night.