Gov. Martin O'Malley's Mark Twain quote simply summed up what Westminster and Carroll County is facing: "Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting over."

Well, except for the whiskey part.

Several Carroll municipalities, including Westminster, cannot attract as much commercial development because of a confusion over state water allocation regulations and a conflict of what the two state departments are telling local officials, said Carroll County Commissioners President Julia Gouge (R) last week at the governor's Capital For a Day cabinet forum at McDaniel College.

"It's not an angry conflict," Gouge said. "We just feel that we can't move forward."

Gouge explained that under the new state regulations, municipalities could use half of much water from available wells than what they could under the old regulations, and that is causing planning and development to sprawl to areas of the county that have sufficient water. Or development to all but stop in cities like Westminster. However, state planning officials want counties to control growth by placing development in municipalities.

Some local officials contend that drilling wells and developing reservoirs provide more of that fight-worthy resource to residents and business.

O'Malley (D) directed his secretaries at the meeting for the state Department of Environment and Department of Planning to develop a briefing for the governor to further explain Carroll County's water situation.

"The reality is that there is a difference between what the planning secretary says and what MDE says," Gouge said, in relation to growth and water.

And that is to partly blame why Carroll officials had to delay for a year unveiling the county's master plan, Pathways — in order to make sense and resolve the water problem, Gouge said.

The plan is a guiding document that tells officials and residents how the county will control development and growth, and one that she said made sense in relation to state Smart Growth practices — where sprawl is reduced by concentrating growth in and around municipalities.

Pathways will be unveiled at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 28 in Room 003 of the County Office Building, 225 N. Center St., Westminster.

"Water, or the lack of ability to drill use water is of tremendous concern," Gouge said

In a related request, Gouge and Ferguson asked the state to help with providing assistance to connect a $4.5 million pipeline from the Medford Quarry in Union Mills to Westminster for drinking water, as well as assistance in progressing the Union Mills and Gillis Falls reservoirs, to help resolve water shortages.

The Union Mills reservoir would provide water for Hampstead, Manchester, Taneytown and Westminster while Gillis Falls would serve Mount Airy.

County officials are continuing to secure land for the reservoirs, Gouge said, but, even if the state gives the OK to impound the water, it will be 10 years until a reservoir will be ready.

"We're looking at trying to have job development in (the Piney Branch area of Union Mills) and perhaps a reservoir in the future," she said.  "Right now, in the northern end of the county, we have a large technology park, but we don't have any water."

And because the water isn't there for the businesses so residents can have jobs, about half of Carroll County residents drive outside of the county to work, Gouge said, laying the case for state help.

She implored O'Malley that Carroll would like to continue Smart Growth practices, but cannot with the state‚s interpretation of water allocations.

Carroll County has the fifth lowest industrial and industrial base (10.33 percent) out of all counties in the state, Gouge said, and that‚s partially because of the lack of water, as well as lack of interstate highways (excluding the estimated 1-mile stretch of I-70 in Mount Airy).

County officials realize that the concerns over using available water is tied to concerns over meeting demand under record droughts, Gouge said, as parts of the county nearly met the 1966 drought level in 2002.

Deputy Secretary of the Environment Bob Summers explained that the situation is much more than getting the OK to drill water in wells. Summers said the water capacity is there, but there is not enough rain to replenish what is drawn from wells.

"You can only take out as much water as will be replaced by the rain," he said. "So we have to plan for drought conditions, and that is a difficult, technical challenge."

He added that if too much water is taken out of the ground, streams would run dry.

Before the cabinet meeting on Friday, Summers helped cut the ribbon for the new Cranberry Water Treatment Plant that can treat 2.75 million gallons per day. Though that has addressed treatment issues, the city is required by the state to come up with a plan and schedule that shows it can address capacity demands to accommodate growth, as well as for record drought conditions, according to a news release issued by MDE.

O'Malley said water concerns are more heightened than decades ago and because of funding issues, jurisdictions likely have to resolve to "stop-gap measures" such as the Cranberry plant in order to catch up to current demand.

Planning Sec. Richard Hall said his department has worked with the county to coordinate with MDE requests.

"We're trying to zero in exactly where are those toughest sticking points," he said. "And I believe we have made a lot of progress."

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