Published: October 11, 2009 11:39 pm      

Lack of water has Mount Savage spigots running dry

Fire company hauling more in; project to remedy problem on track

MOUNT SAVAGE — The small town of Mount Savage has gone dry. And it has nothing to do with a prohibition on alcohol.

Instead, the problem is a lack of water. Dan Williams, president of the privately held Mount Savage Water Company, said the Mount Savage Volunteer Fire Department, as well as trucks from the Ellerslie and Corriganville fire departments, have been hauling water from a point near Motor City on state Route 36 to replenish the town’s water supply. It’s a high-cost, low-efficiency solution, Williams said.

Some of the fire trucks hold 3,000 gallons of water but get only 3 miles to the gallon for fuel efficiency. On top of that, the town must pay the county for the water, Williams said.

Good news is on the way, however. Paul Kahl, deputy director of the Allegany County Department of Public Works, said Friday the contract to build a water transmission main from Morantown to a point near the Mount Savage fire company has been awarded to Carl Belt Inc. of Cumberland for $793,338. The contract is subject to approval by the Maryland Department of the Environment, Kahl said, but “we don’t anticipate any problems.”

“It’s normal procedure,” Kahl said. “They’ll review it. There have been no hold-ups at all at this point.”

Kahl said the state agency, which oversees anything regarding water quality in Maryland, has been approving projects at a faster rate than usual if they are funded through the American Recovery Reinvestment Act, as this project is.

Kistion Mauzy of Carl Belt Inc. said MDE’s approval on ARRA-related projects has been averaging two weeks to receive, about half the time it typically would take. She said Andrew Sawyers of MDE requested on Thursday additional information that was in the bid package to Allegany County government but was not included in documents to the state.

Those documents have been sent over, Mauzy said.

“It’s just like a bank loan, you have to have all your paperwork for it to go through,” Mauzy said. “Everything is fine.”

Kahl said he expects to give the contract the go-ahead to proceed as soon as this month. Construction likely will start then or by early November, he said.

Once completed, Kahl said he believes the water main could help town residents by getting their water from a point in Mount Savage rather than having trucks haul water from Motor City.

“We haven’t worked out the pressure issue yet,” Kahl said, “but we think we can.”

The next project would be to install a water distribution system. The county already is applying for funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and MDE.

“We’re hoping to have that done in the next couple years, or sooner,” Kahl said.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.