Carroll County has bought a limestone quarry for $1.25 million to help quench the county?s demand for water.
Commissioners signed a contract Tuesday for a 60-acre parcel between New Windsor and Westminster that includes a 9-acre lake formed from the quarry. It can provide 300,000 gallons of water a day.
“Water is a very critical issue, and we had to take advantage of this opportunity,” Commissioner Michael Zimmer said.
Westminster lawyer Michael Ritchey said he brokered the deal as a trustee appointed by the court to settle a family dispute over the property.
A consultant had recommended the quarry in 1988 as a potential water source, but the county acted in response to recent changes in state water regulations, public works director Michael Evans said.
Over the past year, Carroll has worked to comply with a state mandate requiring towns to secure enough water to withstand a severe drought.
During a drought in 2002, Westminster caught the attention of the Maryland Department of the Environment when the town spent $120,000 to truck in water for several weeks after Cranberry Reservoir dried up.
MDE halted all construction in Westminster last September, sending the county seat into a building moratorium until April, when city and state officials signed a consent order identifying water sources, including John Hyde Quarry.
“We don?t want Westminster to dry up from an economic development standpoint,” Evans said.
Carroll still needs to determine whether the lake will be used as a reservoir for everyday pumping or for water storage tapped only during emergencies.
The lake could share a pipeline being built to link Medford Quarry to Westminster?s Cranberry Reservoir, Evans said.
