BALTIMORE The Maryland Department of the Environment is soliciting comments on its plan to assure and assess the safety of public drinking water sources in Maryland. A draft of the program document has been prepared for submission to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is available for public comment. The 1996 amendments to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act require each state to develop a plan with public input.

The state's plan was prepared with significant input from water suppliers, local governments, public health agencies and citizens concerned about protection of drinking water supplies. The plan calls for the preparation of maps for some 3,600 water sources that identify intake or well locations with a corresponding watershed or contributing
area, land uses and potential sources of contamination within that area. Water quality data will be collected and reviewed to determine which contaminants are present in the water supply source. Along with the maps will be a
narrative description of the mapping effort and an explanation of the vulnerability of the water supply source to contamination and their sources, which may affect the safety of the water supply.

With this information, local governments in partnership with MDE and other agencies can develop protection programs to improve the integrity of each water supply.

Click here to browse the plan. For more information, contact MDE's Water Supply Program at (410)631-3714.

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