As suburban Maryland’s water utility considers how to reduce sediment and pollutants in its two Patuxent River reservoirs, an outside expert has concluded that decades-old horse trails should be moved farther from the water and unauthorized shoreline fishing areas should be closed.
People who use the reservoirs as lakes for boating also should be required to sign affidavits promising not to use their boats in other waterways, the consultant said in a report to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. Doing so, the analysis said, would help ward off invasive species, such as zebra mussels, that can damage intake pipes at water treatment plants.
Zebra Mussels are a serious threat to industrial equipment in freshwater areas. In addition to being in the Susquehanna River, they (or at least one)
has been found in the Sassafras River on the Eastern Shore.
The Rocky Gorge Reservoir, which straddles eastern Montgomery County and northwestern Prince George’s, and the Triadelphia Reservoir in Montgomery and Howard counties, provide drinking water for about 600,000 people in Montgomery and Prince George’s. Drinking water for the other 1.2 million people served by WSSC in both counties comes from the Potomac River, but the utility does not own or control the land around those reservoirs.
Down here in "Slower" Maryland, we do not have surface water in sufficient quantities for use as a source for domestic water. In some ways, that's nice because our well water are free of horse poop, among other things. However, water resources, both surface and subsurface, are becoming limiting, and must be cared for properly.
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