Based on the latest information from Maryland American Water Company, which supplies water to Bel Air and parts of Fallston and Forest Hill, it will be at least three years before the much-discussed reservoir at Mt. Soma is completed.
It that timetable holds, it will be actually at least four years since the 124 million gallon impoundment of Winters Run was decided upon as the most expedient solution to dealing with Maryland American's chronic supply issue, namely the unreliability of Winters Run to provide enough water during dry periods.
The reservoir was deemed so critical that Harford County government gladly stepped in and sold a 68-acre property, that was supposed to be used for a public park, to the private water company. The reasoning appeared sound: Bel Air needs a reliable water source to be able to grow (but more importantly to survive) and the county property was right across Winters Run from Maryland American's treatment plant. A win-win situation for all involved, or at least one where progress trumped preservation, as there was some public opposition to the property sale.
The reservoir as planned will provide a 100-day supply for the Maryland American service area. The estimated cost, $20 million, will eventually be passed on to Maryland American customers, a company representative told The Aegis last month, subject to requisite scrutiny and approval from the Maryland Public Service Commission, which regulates Maryland American's rates.
While this all sounds like a neat little package that solves a long-standing public concern – reliable water supply for a critical area of Harford County – we hasten to add a word of caution. The reservoir is nothing more than a short-term fix for a much bigger problem that has dogged our county for more than half a century: We don't have a coordinated water supply and distribution system that can be controlled locally with a reasonable degree of certainty.
What we have is a county-run part of a system, mainly reliant on a relationship with Baltimore City; another system serving the City of Aberdeen and Aberdeen Proving Ground reliant on wells and Deer Creek, the latter which has long been considered unreliable; yet another system which is going broke serving Havre de Grace; the Maryland American system with its supply issues and a handful of other private outfits supplying water via wells to communities like Campus Hills and Greenridge.
The previous county administration had high hopes this hodgepodge of municipal and private water systems could be melded into a single public utility, but that effort fizzled for the same reason similar efforts have fizzled going back to the 1950s: Nobody wants to give up control over their respective spheres of interest. For instance, even as the Havre de Grace municipal system sinks further into the red, the city recently won approval from voters to borrow money to upgrade the water plant with the rationale they'll be able to sell more water to other systems and cut their losses.
The Winters Run reservoir, the Havre de Grace plant expansion, the next county contract to buy water from Baltimore City (supplied from our Susquehanna River) are more fingers in a dike that one day is going to burst into an out-and-out water supply crisis. When people turn on the faucet and nothing comes out, it will be too late to change the current feudal approach to providing public water service in Harford County.