R
residentofcre
Guest
I just faxed the following letter to the Editor of the Recorder....
Dear Mr. Editor,
Please allow me to submit this letter as a homeowner in Chesapeake Ranch Estates, a taxpayer in Calvert County, and a customer of the Chesapeake Ranch Estates Water Company. The article in the Recorder [September 22, 2006] should have caused the homeowners in Chesapeake Ranch Estates some serious heartburn. We are paying both sides of a lawsuit that we have no control over. I would like to shed a different light on this issue that might surprise some of the people because I am not known to be a big fan of the water company.
A couple of years ago, I stood up in public meetings and told the County Commissioners that the Chesapeake Ranch Water Company has a well that is pumping naturally occurring arsenic. That means that children who were drinking the water provided by that well were being poisoned. I am known in some circles as the arsenic lady because I harped on this problem over and over and over again.
Did the County Commissioners do anything to stop this? No.
Did the Water Company do anything to stop this? Yes
It took a while for the Water Company to correct the problem. As you may know, the Chesapeake Ranch Estates Water Company is the only source of drinking water for over 3500 homes in the southern end of the county. New EPA standards for Public Water Companies, calling for drastically reduced levels of arsenic in the drinking water, required the water company to come up with a plan and put it into action before January this year.
I asked the water company to drill a new well before the January deadline because the health and safety of our children was involved. This would have cost them about a million dollars that neither the water company, nor the homeowners in Chesapeake Ranch Estates could afford. George Hanson, the General Manager of the Water Company, came up with a plan to close the well and then develop a method to mix the water from this well with the water from the other three wells. This way the four wells required to supply the water necessary could be fully functional and the water would be safe.
The EPA tested the water produced by the system at the arsenic well using this plan and, according to a letter I have in my files, approved the plan. They will continue to monitor the water regularly as they always have. The water is safe to drink now thanks to the action of the Water Company. The water pressure is excellent in almost all of the homes and they are working on bringing it back up over by the airport. On top of all that, the residents of Chesapeake Ranch Estates have begun to conserve water due to the installation of water meters.
Meanwhile, a study by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has been available for some time. The study addresses a pending water shortage in Southern Maryland. There is indeed plenty of water for everyone right now. Since the Aquia Aquifer is a closed system and virtually everyone who drinks or uses water from the tap in Southern Maryland is using the water from the Aquia Aquifer, it’s going to run out.
This Aquifer is over 10,000 years old. It’s hard for some people to believe that we could use it up and that is why conservation has never been a big issue. The truth is, however, that according to the report issued by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, this is probably going to occur around 2025. This means that the water levels in the closed Aquia Aquifer will drop to below 80% making it more difficult to draw water. The State and the counties are already testing the Potapsco Aquifer that runs below the Aquia Aquifer as a replacement source. This means that we have less than 20 years before we will incur the capital expense of millions of dollars to sink deeper wells to provide the water for the population of Southern Maryland.
This is the real issue of the lawsuit. The Chesapeake Ranch Estates Water Company will be required to drill multiple new wells to continue to provide the water for the homeowners. This is going to be a major expense, potentially millions of dollars, even if the water is clean once we get to the aquifer below. If the water is loaded with naturally occurring carcinogens, like arsenic, there will be the added expense of cleaning the water before bringing it into our homes.
When the Lusby Town Center was being developed the County Commissioners had the opportunity to help us. They could have voted to allow the Water Company to provide water for the Town Center, creating the increased cash flow we will require to provide the services we take for granted now.
Woefully, they used the arsenic issue against the water company and refused to allow them the contract to provide the water for the Lusby Town Center. Mind you, the Commissioners didn’t do anything to assist the water company dealing with the arsenic. They didn’t even offer the pregnant women or small children clean water. They used the problem to cut the water company out of any potential benefit from the income from the shopping centers and Business Park in spite of the fact the customers of the Water Company are the very people who will be supporting the Town Center.
There is even a propaganda campaign already in place. They will tell you to think of the Aquia Aquifer as a really thick milkshake. They will tell you to imagine the water wells as big straws. They will tell you that it doesn’t matter how many straws you put in the shake, or how close the straws are placed to each other because everyone will get a drink.
The problem with that argument is this. When the aquifer is below the acceptable levels and we have to drop wells into the deeper aquifer, the money that would have been in the water company’s bank from providing the town center with water will be in the county’s bank instead. They will be the ones with the money to drill the wells and we will be at their mercy once again.
I urge everyone in the county to think about this. I think the water company needs to be more forthcoming with information. They are working on this. I also think that the water company needs our backing right now. Remember, the County didn’t lift a finger to assist us with the arsenic well.
They’re not going to help our water company get water when the aquifer levels fall below the acceptable level. They have the opportunity to allow us to help ourselves by allowing the water company to supply the water to our town center. It would be very inexpensive to alter the infrastructure in place to let the water flow from the water company. We should be pressing the Commissioners to do the right thing for a change.
Dear Mr. Editor,
Please allow me to submit this letter as a homeowner in Chesapeake Ranch Estates, a taxpayer in Calvert County, and a customer of the Chesapeake Ranch Estates Water Company. The article in the Recorder [September 22, 2006] should have caused the homeowners in Chesapeake Ranch Estates some serious heartburn. We are paying both sides of a lawsuit that we have no control over. I would like to shed a different light on this issue that might surprise some of the people because I am not known to be a big fan of the water company.
A couple of years ago, I stood up in public meetings and told the County Commissioners that the Chesapeake Ranch Water Company has a well that is pumping naturally occurring arsenic. That means that children who were drinking the water provided by that well were being poisoned. I am known in some circles as the arsenic lady because I harped on this problem over and over and over again.
Did the County Commissioners do anything to stop this? No.
Did the Water Company do anything to stop this? Yes
It took a while for the Water Company to correct the problem. As you may know, the Chesapeake Ranch Estates Water Company is the only source of drinking water for over 3500 homes in the southern end of the county. New EPA standards for Public Water Companies, calling for drastically reduced levels of arsenic in the drinking water, required the water company to come up with a plan and put it into action before January this year.
I asked the water company to drill a new well before the January deadline because the health and safety of our children was involved. This would have cost them about a million dollars that neither the water company, nor the homeowners in Chesapeake Ranch Estates could afford. George Hanson, the General Manager of the Water Company, came up with a plan to close the well and then develop a method to mix the water from this well with the water from the other three wells. This way the four wells required to supply the water necessary could be fully functional and the water would be safe.
The EPA tested the water produced by the system at the arsenic well using this plan and, according to a letter I have in my files, approved the plan. They will continue to monitor the water regularly as they always have. The water is safe to drink now thanks to the action of the Water Company. The water pressure is excellent in almost all of the homes and they are working on bringing it back up over by the airport. On top of all that, the residents of Chesapeake Ranch Estates have begun to conserve water due to the installation of water meters.
Meanwhile, a study by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has been available for some time. The study addresses a pending water shortage in Southern Maryland. There is indeed plenty of water for everyone right now. Since the Aquia Aquifer is a closed system and virtually everyone who drinks or uses water from the tap in Southern Maryland is using the water from the Aquia Aquifer, it’s going to run out.
This Aquifer is over 10,000 years old. It’s hard for some people to believe that we could use it up and that is why conservation has never been a big issue. The truth is, however, that according to the report issued by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, this is probably going to occur around 2025. This means that the water levels in the closed Aquia Aquifer will drop to below 80% making it more difficult to draw water. The State and the counties are already testing the Potapsco Aquifer that runs below the Aquia Aquifer as a replacement source. This means that we have less than 20 years before we will incur the capital expense of millions of dollars to sink deeper wells to provide the water for the population of Southern Maryland.
This is the real issue of the lawsuit. The Chesapeake Ranch Estates Water Company will be required to drill multiple new wells to continue to provide the water for the homeowners. This is going to be a major expense, potentially millions of dollars, even if the water is clean once we get to the aquifer below. If the water is loaded with naturally occurring carcinogens, like arsenic, there will be the added expense of cleaning the water before bringing it into our homes.
When the Lusby Town Center was being developed the County Commissioners had the opportunity to help us. They could have voted to allow the Water Company to provide water for the Town Center, creating the increased cash flow we will require to provide the services we take for granted now.
Woefully, they used the arsenic issue against the water company and refused to allow them the contract to provide the water for the Lusby Town Center. Mind you, the Commissioners didn’t do anything to assist the water company dealing with the arsenic. They didn’t even offer the pregnant women or small children clean water. They used the problem to cut the water company out of any potential benefit from the income from the shopping centers and Business Park in spite of the fact the customers of the Water Company are the very people who will be supporting the Town Center.
There is even a propaganda campaign already in place. They will tell you to think of the Aquia Aquifer as a really thick milkshake. They will tell you to imagine the water wells as big straws. They will tell you that it doesn’t matter how many straws you put in the shake, or how close the straws are placed to each other because everyone will get a drink.
The problem with that argument is this. When the aquifer is below the acceptable levels and we have to drop wells into the deeper aquifer, the money that would have been in the water company’s bank from providing the town center with water will be in the county’s bank instead. They will be the ones with the money to drill the wells and we will be at their mercy once again.
I urge everyone in the county to think about this. I think the water company needs to be more forthcoming with information. They are working on this. I also think that the water company needs our backing right now. Remember, the County didn’t lift a finger to assist us with the arsenic well.
They’re not going to help our water company get water when the aquifer levels fall below the acceptable level. They have the opportunity to allow us to help ourselves by allowing the water company to supply the water to our town center. It would be very inexpensive to alter the infrastructure in place to let the water flow from the water company. We should be pressing the Commissioners to do the right thing for a change.
