Gallons A Day

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.

South Carroll residents who use more water than their neighbors can expect an official county letter calling for conservation.After monitoring water use in in Carroll's most populous area for two years, the county Bureau of Utilities has found 150 households that consistently exceed the daily average of 300 gallons. A few are using nearly three times that average, county records show, and many are 200 to 300 gallons a day above the average.The letter is a gentle reprimand and an offer to help.

To augment the water supply in Carroll's most populous area, the county will develop a series of wells at Springfield Hospital Center that could deliver 1 million gallons a day to customers.In an agreement signed by the state Board of Public Works last week, the county also said it would continue supplying the hospital and other nearby state properties with as much water as needed now and into the future.New water sources must be found to serve the county's most populous area of 28,000 residents and growing.

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.

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 town 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.