Water Conservation

Landlords and billing companies argue it's environmentally responsible to estimate how much to charge unmetered apartment residents for their water because the little-known practice could save drought-stricken Maryland up to 7.2 billion gallons of water a year if it's expanded. But that assertion - made in a filing to a Howard County commission that is considering whether to regulate unmetered water billing in the county - appears to be unsubstantiated, some experts say. The question of whether unmetered apartments should be billed has stirred debate across the nation.

Maryland's deepening drought prompted state environmental authorities to issue a "drought warning" yesterday for 15 counties in Central Maryland and the Eastern Shore. The declaration asks residents, businesses and industry to voluntarily curb nonessential water use, and requires public water systems to take steps to reduce consumption. The state's action occurred one day after Baltimore announced it will begin drawing water from the Susquehanna River next week to conserve dwindling supplies in its reservoirs.

Harford Community College is poised to receive the second installment of a state loan to help fund its first large-scale "green building" renovation, part of an effort to conserve energy at the Churchville campus. The school is refitting Joppa Hall with high-performance lighting, heating and cooling systems, a "green" roof and other water conservation and filtering systems, said Deborah Wrobel, sustainability coordinator for the college. The state has approved $566,650 for the school to borrow through its Community Energy Loan Program, $400,000 of which was approved by the council earlier this year.

Greener grass, cooler temperatures and crisp autumn air.Surely the city's water shortage must be ancient history.Guess again."The word needs to get out that we're still undergoing a crisis," said William S. Mowell, director of the city Department of Public Works.Months of scant rainfall created drought conditions and severely depleted Westminster's water supply over the summer, prompting the City Council to enact an emergency water-conservation measure Aug. 3.But although the ban remains in effect, city officials are worried that recent rain and cooler temperatures have ledresidents to assume that the drought -- or the water ban -- is athing of the past.

Concerned with persistent drought conditions, impending water restrictions and a pressing need to preserve resources, the county commissioners will take their message on water conservation to the public today during weekly television taping. Douglas E. Myers, county director of public works, will discuss with the board output from wells, conditions at Liberty Reservoir - which supplies about 7,000 homes and businesses in South Carroll - and conservation measures residents can take to ease the burden on the county's public water systems.

Landlords and billing companies argue it's environmentally responsible to estimate how much to charge unmetered apartment residents for their water because the little-known practice could save drought-stricken Maryland up to 7.2 billion gallons of water a year if it's expanded. But that assertion - made in a filing to a Howard County commission that is considering whether to regulate unmetered water billing in the county - appears to be unsubstantiated, some experts say. The question of whether unmetered apartments should be billed has stirred debate across the nation.

The recent rains may have brightened the flowers a bit, but they areunlikely to solve the city's water woes.The lack of rainfall since May has reduced Westminster's water reservoir to 53 percent of itsnormal capacity, leading Mayor W. Benjamin Brown to advise the City Council to put Westminster's water conservation ordinance into effectat a special council meeting this morning.On June 21, council members asked residents to voluntarily cut water usage. But the drain on the city system -- between 2 million and 2.5 million gallons of water a day -- has not slowed, he said.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- You're typing at your computer, and the phone rings. You stop working and answer the call. When you return to the computer, the screen has a picture of a fish in water and a message that says: "A leaky faucet that will fill a cup in 10 minutes will leak 3,000 gallons a year."Now where did that come from?It's out of the mind of Russ Mumford, who has created a software program called Green Screen. The program is an unusual new use for the time when computers "rest."Screen savers are programs that turn a computer terminal blank or display a moving image if no key on the keyboard has been pressed for a set period of time.

Harford County Sustainability Office, Recycling Office and Harford County Public Schools partnered for the third year to hold the Conservation and Preservation Poster Contest to raise awareness about efficiently using and reusing resources. This year, the four themes and grade categories were identified: kindergarten through second grade, Biking and Walking; grades three to five, Water Conservation; grades six to eight, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink; and grades nine to 12, Recycling Office logo.

Sun Journal informs, fascinatesKudos to The Sun for creating the "Sun Journal" column. It is always well-written, comprehensive and far-ranging in subject matter. It never ceases to inform and fascinate the thoughtful reader.#Frieda Fairman EisenbergBaltimoreRemember Rouse as humanitarianWhile reading your extraordinary and moving obituary to Jim Rouse (April 10, "Designer of America"), I could not help but feel that, even as unassuming as Mr. Rouse was, he, too, would have liked it.Perhaps what made Jim Rouse more proud was that not only were his brilliant ideas in real estate development being copied, much more importantly, his humanitarian activities were being copied as well.