August 2007
U.S. Water News Online
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. -- Two months after water wells around Somerset and Wicomico counties started going dry, local officials say the well failures are spreading, and they've asked the state to step in and help.
More than 120 wells have gone dry since May, according to The Salisbury Daily Times. The affected homes relied on water from the Manokin aquifer, and officials are trying to figure out what's causing the problem.
"This is a warning sign that something dramatic has happened in the Manokin aquifer," said Robin Street, manager of the Somerset County Sanitary District, who has been compiling a list of 93 failed wells in Somerset County.
Local officials have identified two possible culprits -- a sod farm and a state prison that are drawing water from the aquifer. As the dry-well situation gets worse, officials say the state needs to step in and help residents with no water.
Somerset County Commissioners have asked Gov. Martin O'Malley to halt the use of the Manokin aquifer by the sod farm as well as Eastern Correctional Institution in Princess Anne, which is pumping more than 10 times what is permitted.
Somerset County Commissioners have asked the governor in a letter for funding to help residents pay for new wells.
O'Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese told the Daily Times that the governor was aware of the well problem. Abbruzzese said the state Department of the Environment was investigating, but he didn't say whether aid would come to the people with dry wells.
Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt is appealing to the governor to ease the income requirements for state grants and loans so that funds are available to anyone with well problems.
Some residents say the state may be to blame for the dry wells. That's because the state Department of the Environment approved water permits for the prison and the sod farm despite local objections, the Daily Times reported.
"We have concerns that approval of this well, to be used for farm irrigation, could have an adverse effect upon the water supply in the northern section of Somerset County," then-County Administrator Charles Massey said in an April 2004 letter to MDE.
Two years later, another letter to MDE from the Sanitary District objected to the prison's use of the Manokin aquifer, which was causing a drop in the wells used by Princess Anne's public water system.
Some residents say the state should repeat its action in 1987, when the state reimbursed residents within a 5-mile radius of the prison for similar well problems. Resident Pam Hutchinson said the state should again waive income requirements for assistance to people with well failures.
"It shouldn't make any difference what income level you're in," she said.
Somerset County Commissioner Rex Simpkins said the county has requested another meeting with MDE later on Aug. 14 and are waiting for a reply.
In June, a hydrogeologist hired to evaluate the problem reported he was concerned that if the Sanitary District, the prison and the sod farm are all drawing water from the same aquifer, then it could create a condition known as mining, in which more water is pumped out than can be replenished by natural means.
Wicomico resident Bill Ryan still has a working well but said the government, both state and local, should do more to preserve the water supply through growth management and watering bans when necessary.
"The government's not doing its job," Ryan said.
Return to the U.S. Water News Archives page Or Return to the U.S. Water News Homepage
Editor@uswaternews.com
*Your Name:
*Your Email:
*Friend's Email:
Use a comma to separate e-mail addresses:
*Your Comments:
Hi, I thought you might like to read this article.
*Required Fields