Potomac agreement vital to city’s growth

City now has only 162,000 gallons of water available for new development

Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006

The City of Frederick is coming up dry in its search for additional sources of water and is depending heavily on the Potomac River pipeline project to provide water for new development.

The city has 162,000 gallons of water left to allocate for development, and most of that is for businesses. Only 148 gallons of it is earmarked for homes.

The average home uses about 250 gallons.

The city is pinning its hopes on Frederick County’s $100 million Potomac pipeline project to deliver up to 8 million gallons to city users over the next decade.

The project requires an agreement between the city and county, and even if that comes soon, the project won’t be complete until spring or summer 2007, according to Mayor W. Jeff Holtzinger (R).

City and county officials have been dickering over the water-sharing agreement for nearly three years.

‘‘I am very concerned about it,” Holtzinger said. ‘‘Even if we sign the agreement tomorrow, there is still that lag time.”

The city hired a team of professionals, called the Water Now team, two years ago to hunt down water sources identified by engineering consultant Malcolm Pirnie. Of the options available for immediate and long-term water needs, only wells and leak detection efforts have proven successful.

The Water Now team’s plans to obtain and treat discharge from LaFarge Quarry and purchase water from Fort Detrick’s supply fell through.

Four members of the Water Now team were laid off Monday by Holtzinger, who said their duties would be absorbed into the engineering department.

The city put two wells online for use in emergencies, and is looking at drilling another well near the Frederick Airport that could produce up to 1 million gallons a day, according to Paul Lee, director of engineering. If the well proves viable, it will likely begin producing water for allocation in October 2007, he said.

The well water, however, needs to be softened after complaints three years ago from residents that hard water ruined their appliances. Softening has to be done through a portable treatment plant, now sitting unused in Riverwalk Park. The plant will have to be moved nearer to the city’s Monocacy Treatment Plant to be operational.

Holtzinger said he does not have confidence in well water, and relying on the well system is ‘‘somewhat of a scary proposition.”

The city’s permit to draw 2 million gallons of water a day from the Monocacy River expires in December, contributing to the sense of urgency to procure water sources. The Maryland Department of the Environment granted the city permission to draw temporarily from the river because it had overallocated water, and the problem was compounded when a drought hit the city in 2002.

Both Lee and Holtzinger are confident that the state will extend the permit until the Potomac River pipeline project is completed. Holtzinger is also willing to buy water from the county if necessary.

‘‘The state is quite aware of the situation and will help us no get in that net zero situation,” Lee said.

The city has approved 3,183 new housing units for development to date. Those homes would use about 674,715 gallons of water, but that number is subject to change, according to city planner Josh Bazis.

Calculating the amount of water needed for new business development is also difficult, he said, because of all the variables.

Since 2003, the city has allocated about 1.5 million gallons of water for new business and residential development.