NEWS
By Frank Roylance | June 19, 2009
After all this rain, Greg Koppenhoeffer of Ellicott City wondered whether Baltimore's reservoirs were full yet. He looked for numbers online but found none. The city hopes to post reservoir data on a new Web site sometime this summer. Call Public Works, and they'll say Loch Raven and Prettyboy are full. Liberty is rising at 98.9 percent. Combined, they're at 99.4 percent. Plenty.
NEWS
By Frank D. Roylance | March 28, 2009
Marylanders may see some welcome rain this weekend, but it's not expected to fully reverse what has become the driest start to a calendar year in 138 years of record-keeping in Baltimore. After nearly two months with only a few inches of snow and scant rainfall across most of Maryland, more than half the state officially fell into a drought this week. Dry weather that began in October has left streams flowing at record or near-record lows for this time of year, hydrologists say. Water tables are falling when they should be recharging, and farm fields and pastures are growing short of the moisture they'll need to support early growth after planting this spring.
NEWS
By Kevin Rector | June 30, 2008
For the past eight months, Luke Brackett has been part administrator, part lone ranger. Hired by Baltimore City in November to spearhead the creation of a new police force to protect the three city-owned reservoirs in Baltimore and Carroll counties, Brackett spends part of his days patrolling the watersheds and part interviewing applicants interested in joining his force. "I'm tasked with bringing the department to life," Brackett said. "We're still getting our feet wet, no pun intended."
NEWS
June 30, 2008
Swimming in reservoirs illegal, unsafe Baltimore County fire and medical emergency officials remind residents that it is illegal and unsafe to swim in reservoirs. The county averages between five and 10 drownings and near-drownings annually, most of them involving children or people who decide to cool off in reservoirs or other bodies of water where swimming is illegal. www.bcps.org/schools/moving_tips.html for a list of required documents for registering a child. Parents of non-English-speaking children should call 410-887-6752 for registration information.
NEWS
By Frank D. Roylance | May 14, 2008
The creeks are full, the fields are soggy, and the drought that had Maryland farmers and water managers so worried late last year is finally behind us. "Certainly in Maryland, there's no drought left," said Mike Halpert, deputy director of the National Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs. "It's hard to get 8 inches of rain and still have drought." Improved rainfall in recent months has nearly filled Baltimore's three reservoirs. Farmers in Southern Maryland, where the dry conditions lingered longest, are happy.
NEWS
By CANDUS THOMSON | April 13, 2008
Almost everything an angler needs to know about the three bodies of water owned by Baltimore City in Baltimore County can be found in the annual guide published by the city's Department of Public Works. The 2008 Pocket Guide to Boating & Fishing is a 34-page guide filled with helpful maps and charts to tell you what kinds of fish are hanging out at Loch Raven, Liberty and Prettyboy reservoirs and cool facts about the fishing holes. The booklet won't catch fish, but it will get you pointed in the right direction and help avoid trouble with the watershed police.
NEWS
March 30, 2008
The boat-fishing season on Loch Raven Reservoir begins Friday and runs through the end of November, the Baltimore Department of Public Works has announced. The fishing season at Liberty and Prettyboy reservoirs began March 1 and continues until Dec. 31. Boating in the reservoirs requires a permit, which is $60 a season. People who apply for a permit will receive a "2008 Pocket Guide to Boating and Fishing," which public works officials say gives details about more than 40 species of fish in the reservoirs.
NEWS
By Alan Zarembo | February 1, 2008
Human-caused global warming has been shrinking the snowpack across the mountain ranges of the West for five decades, suggesting that the region's long battle for water will only worsen, according to a computer analysis released yesterday. As temperatures have increased, more winter precipitation has fallen as rain instead of snow, and the snow is melting sooner, reported the study published in the journal Science. The result is that rivers are flowing faster in the spring, raising the risk of flooding, and slower in the summer, raising the risk of drought.
NEWS
December 14, 2007
Baltimore's decision to begin tapping the Susquehanna River on Tuesday to head off a potential shortage of drinking water next spring illustrates that planning ahead has become crucial in water management. Thanks to such planning by earlier generations, the Baltimore metropolitan area is served by three sizable reservoirs that are the envy of other Maryland cities, which wouldn't be allowed to build one today. And yet in periods of drizzly drought such as these, the reservoirs are not being replenished quickly enough with rainwater to ensure they will have adequate supplies when warmer weather brings higher demand.
NEWS
By DAN RODRICKS | December 13, 2007
Please note: A gunman killed eight shoppers then himself in a mall in Omaha, Neb., on Dec. 5, but no one killed anyone in Baltimore that day. In fact, we went five days without a shooting in Baltimore, from the evening of Dec. 2 until the afternoon of Dec. 7. There were no homicides from Dec. 4 through Dec. 10. Excuse me while I find this remarkable. It's remarkable because recent Decembers have been particularly bloody, as if there were a macabre rush to raise the violent crime numbers before the end of the year.