Towns could pump well water from state parks and preserved lands under a bill introduced by a state senator.
“There are towns with preserved areas abutting them, and it doesn?t make sense that those areas aren?t considered for recharge,” said Sen. David Brinkley, R- Carroll and Frederick counties.
Brinkley?s bill would let towns include water found beneath state parks and preserved open space outside city limits when they calculate how quickly underground aquifers recharge. Recharge refers to the well water left after runoff and evaporation.
“No one else is using the water in the parks, so it makes sense for towns” to use it, Westminster City Administrator Marge Wolf said.
The legislation comes at a time when Carroll?s eight municipalities are grappling with a state requirement that they secure enough water in the event of a worst-case drought.
The bill will help Taneytown but will not directly affect Westminster, Wolf said, because no parks touch the county seat.
“But we do see water as a regional problem, so if it helps Taneytown, we?re all in favor of that because water is limited, and there are only so many places where it comes from,” so this measure could eliminate competition among towns for water, she said.
The state forced Westminster into a building moratorium in September that will end when the city and Maryland Department of the Environment sign a consent agreement detailing how Westminster will bring additional water sources online. The city wants to build a pipeline to Medford Quarry, among other projects.
Wolf met with John Grace, water supply division chief for MDE on Tuesday, and a formal agreement is expected soon.
“I?m very hopeful,” Wolf said.
