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7540 Main Street
Suite 7
Sykesville, MD 21784
410-795-4626 phone
410-795-4611 fax
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Source Water Assessments and Wellhead Protection
Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE)
Advanced Land and Water, Inc. (ALWI) was retained by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to prepare source water assessments for over 300 Transient Non-Community (TNC) public groundwater supplies located across Frederick and Howard Counties, Maryland. The work was performed in accordance with the 1999 MDE Source Water Assessment Plan (SWAP). With this project complete, ALWI has completed approximately 500 source water assessment and wellhead protection projects in the Mid Atlantic Region since 1998.
We delineated wellhead protection areas, we identified and mapped contamination hazards, we assessed the susceptibility of the subject wells to contamination, and we formulated specific strategies to reduce the future risk of contamination. ALWI found that many of the wells are susceptible to bacteriologic contaminants, and by extension, possibly viral and protozoan contaminants as well. Many wells also are susceptible to nitrate-nitrogen contamination. Other conditions of susceptibility may also be present; with few exceptions only bacteriologic and nitrate sampling results were available for our review.
We identified several instances of seemingly incompatible land uses proximal to one or more of the wells; changed or relocated operations could mitigate the future risk of contamination. Suggestions were offered on a hazard-specific basis. We also recommended improved wellhead protection include hazard reduction measures, wellhead integrity maintenance, contingency planning, customized water quality sampling protocols, contaminant release response protocols and public awareness in the form of focused outreach to the well owners.
The work was completed and submitted digitally in electronic format, using Geographic Information Systems technology.
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