Water Restrictions

Talk about spring cleaning. Your cluttered basement and spotty windows are child's play compared to what Maryland Transportation Authority workers are tackling this month: They're scrubbing the 9 miles of tunnels that run under the Baltimore Harbor, from top to bottom and side to side. The Fort McHenry and Harbor tunnels are filthy. They have not been cleaned since August, when drought restrictions took effect. Since then, car exhaust, diesel smoke and road grime have turned the white tile walls a dingy brown and dimmed the bright ceiling lights.

Residents in three northern Anne Arundel County ZIP code areas will face water restrictions starting May 1. The restrictions - which apply to ZIP codes 21226, 21122 and 21060 - are necessary to repair a Baltimore water line that broke last year, said County Executive Janet S. Owens. The city water line supplies water to parts of northern Anne Arundel. The restrictions, which will remain in place indefinitely, will be in effect from 5 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, and all day Friday through Sunday.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. lifted water restrictions for Harford County and other areas served by Baltimore's water supply Thursday. Water restrictions were lifted for most of Central Maryland last month, but Harford - along with parts of Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties - remained under restriction because of water contracts with the city. Baltimore's reservoirs were at lower-than-acceptable levels at the time. Those reservoirs now contain more than 61 billion gallons of water, which is close to normal for this time of year.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. lifted water restrictions for Harford County and other areas served by Baltimore's water supply Thursday. Water restrictions were lifted for most of Central Maryland last month, but Harford -- along with parts of Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties -- remained under restriction because of water contracts with the city. Baltimore's reservoirs were at lower-than-acceptable levels at the time. Those reservoirs now contain more than 61 billion gallons of water, which is close to normal for this time of year.

Bound by a water contract between Harford County and Baltimore, customers on the county's water system remain under water-use restrictions despite Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s recent lifting of the drought emergency order for Central Maryland. Residents who receive a water bill from any other water system in Harford should contact their supplier about water restrictions in their area. Those on private water systems and wells are no longer affected by the restrictions. Below-normal water levels in the Baltimore reservoir system are responsible for keeping the restrictions in place here and in sections of Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Howard counties served by the city.

Four months after one school twice ran out of water and another's well began kicking up mud and gravel, Superintendent Charles I. Ecker has relaxed emergency water restrictions that have cut the Carroll County school system's water use by about 12 percent. "I think the drought's over," Ecker said in an interview last week. "The reservoirs are filling up. Other areas have lifted their water restrictions, and I think we should lift ours, too." The water problems were so worrisome - toilets at Winfield Elementary in southwest Carroll County stopped flushing and faucets slowed to a trickle within the first two days of school in August - that school officials brought in paper products for the cafeteria, gave students sanitary wipes for hand-washing and replaced drinking fountains with the plastic orange beverage coolers commonly found on athletic fields.

Four months after one school twice ran out of water and another's well began kicking up mud and gravel, Superintendent Charles I. Ecker has relaxed emergency water restrictions that have cut the Carroll County school system's water use by about 12 percent. "I think the drought's over," Ecker said in an interview last week. "The reservoirs are filling up. Other areas have lifted their water restrictions, and I think we should lift ours, too." The water problems were so worrisome - toilets at Winfield Elementary in southwest Carroll County stopped flushing and faucets slowed to a trickle within the first two days of school in August - that school officials brought in paper products for the cafeteria, gave students sanitary wipes for hand-washing and replaced drinking fountains with the plastic orange beverage coolers commonly found on athletic fields.

A soggy autumn that brought nearly 5 inches of surplus rain and snow has prompted Gov. Parris N. Glendening to cancel drought emergency restrictions imposed in August on the Eastern Shore, and to ease water limits in Central Maryland. Central Maryland is now the only section of the state still under mandatory water-use curbs. Glendening scaled back the drought emergency yesterday in Central Maryland, from the Level 2 restrictions imposed in August, to the less restrictive Level 1 rules imposed in April.

Don't let all this rain flush the word drought out of your vocabulary. The two inches that poured down over the drizzly, dreary weekend weren't nearly enough to overcome two years of dryness and refill the region's half-empty reservoirs. As a result, city and state restrictions continue on using water for washing cars and other nonessential purposes. The National Weather Service said the rain that fell during the weekend brought the Baltimore region's total to 34.23 inches for the year.

North county areas added to water restrictions list Residents and business owners across north Anne Arundel County - including Pasadena, Old Mill and Linthicum -must comply with mandatory water restrictions imposed recently by County Executive Janet S. Owens. Owens announced expanded water restrictions Tuesday in response to an executive order by Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who tightened water limits for Central Maryland and the Eastern Shore. Residents of the county's northeastern neighborhoods have had to limit water use since June, when a water pipe broke under the Patapsco River.