Hampstead commission approves draft County Water Resources Element for state review

The Hampstead Planning and Zoning Commission on July 23 voted to send the County'wide 2024 Water Resources Element draft to state agencies for the required 60-day review, following a presentation by Brenda Denny of the Carroll County Planning and Land Management.

Denny told commissioners the plan'which county staff produced with nine municipalities'updates how water, wastewater and stormwater will be measured and managed for future growth. "The purpose of this plan is just to make sure that all of the water resources'which is water, wastewater, stormwater'are considered when you're looking at planned growth in your comprehensive plan," Denny said.

The draft frames supply and treatment capacity using Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) methodology, which Denny said uses conservative assumptions such as adding 10% for drought demand and planning for the loss of the highest-producing well. That approach produced results that look large on paper but, she said, are intended to show worst-case resilience. "It's a very, very conservative number," Denny said.

Why it matters: the document is a required planning element that must be found consistent with municipal comprehensive plans before countywide…