Spring Water

Jean Monroe Stork Kamtman, a former owner of a spring water company who also did volunteer work, died Oct. 1 of respiratory failure at Union Memorial Hospital. She was 80.She took over operation of the Chattolanee Spring Water Co., which she had inherited from her father, John W. Stork, in 1958. The Greenspring Valley company was founded in 1890 by her grandfather, William L. Stork, a lawyer and Civil War veteran.Named Chattolanee, which meant pure water to the Native Americans who lived in the Greenspring Valley, the site at the intersection of Park Heights and Forest Park avenues once contained a posh summer hotel which was frequented during the Gay '90s and turn of the century by wealthy Baltimoreans who arrived by train and carriage to escape the heat of the city.

Think Mexico is only for spring breakers on a beach, coconut drink and pink umbrella in hand? Think again. Adventurous visitors willing to branch out from well-traveled haunts like Puerto Vallarta or the Riviera Maya will be rewarded with singular experiences, from a freshwater lagoon in Quintana Roo to a treasure-trove of Mayan handicrafts in a stunning colonial town. Leave the crowded coast behind and stumble upon un-excavated pyramids rising from the jungle, warm swimming holes carved from limestone beneath the earth or a tranquil fishing village on the Pacific.

Giant Food has decided to test how well spring water drawn from beneath a Clarksville farm sells in 10 of its stores.The water bottled and marketed under the Taro Spring Water brand name began showing up on select Giant stores this week, said Robin Keren, gourmet food buyer for the chain."

Three boaters were rescued Monday evening from Middle River by Natural Resources Police after their small boat capsized in choppy, wind-swept water, the agency reported. An officer found Dwayne W. Abbott, 28, of Essex and Jonathan M. Miller, 11, and William H. Miller, 34, both of Middle River in the 58-degree water near Wilson Point with help from the Baltimore County aviation unit. The boaters were transferred to a Baltimore County Fire Department boat and then taken to Franklin Square Hospital for evaluation, the police report said.

Bottled water companies and distributors in Maryland struggled yesterday to meet a surge in demand caused by a Washington health advisory of possible contamination of municipal tap water.The surge was so unexpected, some water company executives said they haven't been able to react adequately to the excess demand. But they don't expect shortages for their regular customers.Bottled water distributors argue that they should have gotten advance notice of a Wednesday Environmental Protection Agency warning which urged Washington and Northern Virginia residents to drink only boiled tap water or bottled water.

Three boaters were rescued Monday evening from Middle River by Natural Resources Police after their small boat capsized in choppy, wind-swept water, the agency reported. An officer found Dwayne W. Abbott, 28, of Essex and Jonathan M. Miller, 11, and William H. Miller, 34, both of Middle River in the 58-degree water near Wilson Point with help from the Baltimore County aviation unit. The boaters were transferred to a Baltimore County Fire Department boat and then taken to Franklin Square Hospital for evaluation, the police report said.

CLARKSVILLE -- The last thing Thomas Pignataro expected to find beneath the green turf and thoroughbred paddocks known as Brick House Farm was an ocean."

Howard County water is going to Mexico and South Korea.Clarksville's Brick House Farm Spring Water Co. has landed its first foreign deals -- potentially worth millions -- to sell its bottled water in the two countries.The deals represent a breakthrough for the 5-year-old company's product: bottled spring water pumped from a huge aquifer under a Clarksville farm and sold under two labels, Taro and Brick House."This could be our biggest break," Thomas Taro, the company's founder, said yesterday.

A Clarksville-based bottled spring water company is going after a share of the expansive office and home bottled water delivery market in the Baltimore-Washington region."

State engineers met with Manchester officials yesterday, urging them to decide on a plan for replacing more than half the town's water supply.The choices are to filter the spring water the town uses for 55 percent of its drinking water, or to build enough wells to replace it with ground water, which is less vulnerable to contamination from surface water. Most town and state officials prefer ground water.Manchester is ahead of some small towns in meeting the state's February 1996 deadline for adopting stricter state and federal clean water guidelines because it commissioned a professional water study more than a year ago, said Barry O'Brien, an engineer with the state Department of the Environment.

Thomas Taro almost caresses the 16.9-ounce plastic bottle of Natural Spring Water, then a faraway look slowly creeps across his face. "If it gets above 10, I'll be out of business," he said. By "it" Taro means nitrates. And by "10" he means milligrams per liter - the maximum permitted by the government for drinking water. His concern is understandable because he operates Brick House Farm Water Co., which draws 47 million gallons of bottled spring water annually for customers from his 98-acre farm.

Many places boast that George Washington once slept there, but Berkeley Springs, W.Va., might be the only locale that brags that the Father of Our Country bathed there. Washington often visited the warm mineral springs that emerge from the base of a mountain in West Virginia's eastern panhandle, and his fondness for the waters helped spawn what is said to be the country's first health spa and the surrounding town of Bath. Unofficially renamed Berkeley Springs, the area today continues to attract relaxation-starved tourists who wade in the waters or soak in the spring-fed baths.

SILVER SPRING - The natural spring that gave this community its name stopped flowing about 1930, destroyed all those years ago under the pounding of the dynamite that carved East West Highway out of the countryside. Robbed of its namesake, the town's history buffs and civic cheerleaders have tried and failed for decades to get the water running again. They were hoping to drill down into the aquifer and pump water to the surface. But what few people know is that the water came back in 2003, only to disappear again in the winter.

If the Ehrlich administration gets its way, Marylanders will be able to heal the Chesapeake Bay by buying bay-themed spring water and sportswear and by telling cashiers at their favorite shops to keep the change. Details of the governor's proposal to raise millions of private dollars for a Chesapeake Bay Recovery Fund emerged yesterday in the plan's first airing before state lawmakers. Natural Resources Secretary C. Ronald Franks said that the goal was to raise $24 million by 2010 for large-scale projects such as rebuilding oyster populations and planting grasses that boost oxygen for marine life.

The historic Oakland Spring House at the Baltimore Museum of Art, a neo-classical landmark whose interior has been off limits to the public for more than 30 years, will be open soon to visitors again. Museum directors plan to mount temporary exhibits inside the building after contractors complete an $87,000 conservation project designed to address deterioration of the 1815 structure and take it back to its original appearance. Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation approved plans this month for the work, which is to begin in the spring and be completed by fall.

Last week, Perrier Group of America, a division of Swiss food conglomerate Nestle, announced it was finally turning off the spigot of its Deer Park Mountain Spring Water plant in Garrett County, and shipping bottling elsewhere. As fabled a bottled water as Poland Spring or New Hampshire's Balsam, Deer Park has graced American tables for more than a century. Starting in September, its production will be switched to plants in Allentown, Pa., and Florida, ending its association with the Western Maryland town of its birth.

IN THE WAKE of the discovery of a dangerous carcinogen in Perrier, the carbonated French spring water, congressional probers have zeroed in on the bottled-water business. What they have found, among other things, is a small company near Atlanta operating out of a house trailer that turns out "Designer Love Water," complete with instructions for use.The owner now says he doesn't even claim his product will quench thirst, but Capitol Hill investigators led by Michigan Rep. John Dingell say the owner is claiming much more.

Last week, Perrier Group of America, a division of Swiss food conglomerate Nestle, announced it was finally turning off the spigot of its Deer Park Mountain Spring Water plant in Garrett County, and shipping bottling elsewhere. As fabled a bottled water as Poland Spring or New Hampshire's Balsam, Deer Park has graced American tables for more than a century. Starting in September, its production will be switched to plants in Allentown, Pa., and Florida, ending its association with the Western Maryland town of its birth.

Past the Land of Low Corn, where cows once moaned for a dewy field and farmers still file for relief, a rough asphalt road turns to moist, white stone.The path leads to 70 secluded acres, where Kirk and Sue Nevin have tilled summer gardens thick with tall cornstalks, vines heavy with delectable berries and plump vegetables ripe for the picking.During the driest season in 70 years, water has always run through their ditches, coursed through their gardens, brimmed in their sink. It gurgled freely here.

Serious problems with the water-heating system at Linton Springs Elementary may have been caused by an error in the construction plans prepared by a Frederick contractor, school officials said yesterday."