Harford and Cecil counties must expand their water supplies to accommodate growth surrounding Aberdeen Proving Ground, state officials said Friday.
Harford has a “limited” supply of drinkable water, while Cecil?s supply is “inadequate” for the residential growth projected through 2015 as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure, said Stephen Pattison, MDE assistant secretary for the Maryland Department of the Environment.
“Over the short term… there are no expectations of water shortages, in particular for Cecil and Harford County, but our long-term resources are stressed,” Pattison said in his presentation to Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown?s BRAC subcabinet Friday.
As a result, the state is encouraging the counties to work regionally to take inventory of water sources and look for ways to expand, he said.
Harford County has five separate public water systems: one for each of the municipalities, one for the Edgewood area of Aberdeen Proving Ground and one county-owned system that covers developed areas outside the municipal systems, said Jackie Ludwig, chief engineer for the county?s division of water and sewer.
The county?s system has 2.6 million gallons of capacity to spare and will be adding another 10 million gallons of treated water when an expansion to the Abingdon water-treatment plant is completed, Ludwig said. Between the two, the county-owned water system should be able to shoulder its share of more than 6,000 new households predicted to come to the county by 2015, she said.
The City of Aberdeen, which also supplies water to the northern section of Aberdeen Proving Ground, has already reached the limit on its system of wells and is seeking ways to tap into the Chesapeake Bay, City Manager Doug Miller said. A $500,000 federal grant may help the city study ways to expand if it is awarded, he said.
