Carroll County could dust off plans for two municipal reservoirs as water shortages and state policy shifts in continue.
The county commissioners decided to reopen negotiations with the Maryland Department of the Environment on Thursday over the Gillis Falls reservoir, proposed for Mount Airy, and the Union Mills reservoir, proposed north of Westminster.
MDE officials may shift towardregional, surface reservoirs as a common water source instead of just relying upon each municipality?s groundwater reserves, said county Planning Director Steven Horn.
With their controlled intakes and above-ground reserves, the capacity of reservoirs is easier to plan, Horn said.
“If we are [moving in that direction], Carroll County is prepared to pick up that ball and run with it,” he said.
Plans for the reservoirs originated in the 1970s, when the county identified the potential for more surface-water supplies, said Commissioner Dean Minnich.
“It was plain to the government then that there was going to be a time when the county would need more water,” Minnich said.
Recent projections of water shortages in Mount Airy indicate that time has come, he said.
Throughout the 1980s and ?90s, the county planned and started purchasing land for the two proposed reservoirs and projected that Gillis Falls would be in use sometime after 2000.
However, the process stopped when it looked like the plans would never be approved, Minnich said. At the time, state and federal officials were more wary of the environmental effect of flooding acres of ecosystem.
If the state is more friendly toward reservoirs now, the county would look at the cost of updating the old plans, Horn said.
The Union Mills reservoir would have to go back to the early stages of planning, he said.
