Watershed

Governments in Baltimore, Baltimore County and Carroll County should intensify efforts to monitor water quality and preserve forests and farmland in the Prettyboy Reservoir watershed, according to a report released this week by a national conservation group. The Trust for Public Land spent more than a year studying the watershed, an 80-square- mile expanse in Baltimore County, Carroll County and York County, Pa., that serves 1.8 million water customers in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

Maryland Department of the Environment officials said a 35-year-old, under-enforced federal regulation could now mandate that levels of fecal bacteria in a sprawling Carroll County watershed be reduced by more than 90 percent, though the state did not suggest yesterday how to improve water quality. Carroll County officials said they have anticipated costly wastewater treatment plant upgrades as the federal government starts to implement more of the 1972 Clean Water Act. It requires states to identify polluted waterways and set limits for each source of contamination.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is expected to announce today that the city is giving $100,000 to the Herring Run Watershed Association for its new environmental center on Belair Road. The center, which is scheduled to open in the fall, will be one of the greenest buildings in Baltimore - complete with composting toilets, a tankless hot water heater and a roof that recycles storm water. The city's grant marks the end of Herring Run's two-year drive to raise the $600,000 needed for the building, which they hope will brighten up Belair Road and be an inspiration for those seeking to improve the neighborhood.

TREES ARE an economic miracle. They filter pollutants from air and water, provide cooling and shade in summer, protection from winter cold, wildlife habitat and storm-water control against erosion and pollution runoff, absorb carbon dioxide and retard global warming.Yet tree cover in the Chesapeake Bay watershed is rapidly disappearing, with development the prime cause. Nonurban areas are losing trees at the same rate as the highly developed Baltimore-Washington corridor.Between 1973 and 1997, high-canopy tree cover in the heart of the watershed plummeted from 55 percent to 38 percent, according to satellite maps analyzed by American Forests, a nonprofit conservation group.

The battle over philosophies continues as Carroll's three commissioners try to resolve differences that have kept them from endorsing the longstanding Reservoir Watershed Management Agreement - a pact to safeguard land surrounding metropolitan Baltimore's reservoirs. If the Baltimore Metropolitan Council will accept the deletion of one resolution from its document, Commissioners Donald I. Dell and Robin Bartlett Frazier said yesterday they will sign the document. They have asked the other signers, including Gov. Parris N. Glendening, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and leaders of the metropolitan counties, to eliminate "In Baltimore and Carroll counties, conservation and agricultural zoning of the reservoir watersheds should be maintained and not reduced" from the agreement.

The Baltimore Metropolitan Council has asked Carroll officials to defer changes in land use in the Liberty Reservoir watershed for about a year to allow time for the completion of environmental studies that might ease restrictions on industrial development. But Carroll Commissioners Donald I. Dell and Robin Bartlett Frazier said yesterday the county needs to rezone for industry as soon as possible and cannot wait for the studies. "I am not willing to wait," said Frazier, referring to the council, whose board voted Tuesday in Baltimore to request the delay.

Carroll County Commissioner Donald I. Dell has delayed an environmental assessment of streams in the Liberty Reservoir watershed - an area that covers half the county - until he is convinced that such a study is necessary. Dell opposes the study, even though the county has a $40,000 state grant that would pay for the research and one year's salary for a contractual employee to collect and coordinate information. Critical of studies initiated by what he called "too many self-appointed conservationists," Dell said the Liberty Reservoir watershed, which includes five of Carroll's planned growth areas, is in great shape.

The residents of a Timonium neighborhood are angry about possible deer poachers in their quiet community bounded by the Loch Raven Reservoir watershed.They are particularly concerned because hunting is banned on the 3,100-acre expanse that provides drinking water for most Baltimore City residents and many in Baltimore County.Hunting also is not allowed on homeowners' property without permission, state officials say.But in the past two weeks, five dead deer have been found in the Wakefield community off Dulaney Valley Road, one with a gunshot wound, said Bill Murray, president of the Wakefield Improvement Association.

The Maryland Department of the Environment has been asked to stop trying to appease Carroll County and keep its hands off the long-standing pact governing the development of land surrounding one of the region's main water supplies. MDE had offered Carroll the possibility of limited development in the Liberty Reservoir watershed if the county were to agree to preserve land for every acre it develops through a process called mitigation. The Baltimore Metropolitan Council made the request to MDE in a letter.

Supporters of a bill that would curtail development in the Patuxent watershed told state legislators yesterday that the measure would protect the environment, but opponents said it would destroy local autonomy and slash property values.The bill, sponsored by three Columbia Democrats and 11 other state delegates, would restrict building in the watershed for the Triadelphia and T. Howard Duckett reservoirs, both part of the Patuxent River along Howard's southern border.Supporters say the measure is designed to protect the water supply of about 1.5 million people in Montgomery and Prince George's counties, mostly by restricting building on 46,000 acres in western Howard.