St. Mary's Pulls Plug on Water Use

By Matt Zapotosky
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 26, 2007

The drought that has settled over Southern Maryland in recent months prompted the St. Mary's County Metropolitan Commission on Tuesday to restrict water use across the county.

The commission, which operates public water and sewer service in the county, said the Level 1 restriction, the least severe possible, bans watering of lawns and gardens except between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. The order also asks customers to watch automated sprinkler and irrigation systems for excessive water runoff and to not wash paved surfaces such as sidewalks and driveways.

The filling of swimming pools and washing of cars are permitted. Privately owned vehicles may be washed only once a week, using a bucket or hose with an automatic shut-off nozzle.

The affected public water systems serve Breton Bay, Cedar Cove, Charlotte Hall, Country Lakes, Forrest Farms, Greenbrier, Hunting Quarters, Lexington Park, Mulberry South, Persimmon Hills, Piney Point, Piney Point Landings, Rolling Acres, Villages of Leonardtown and Wilderness Run.

Utilities Chief Named

William A. Shreve Sr., who works for the Maryland Environmental Service, was named acting director of the Charles County Department of Utilities this week.

He will fill the vacancy created last week when Jerome L. Michael announced his retirement.

County Administrator Paul W. Comfort announced the temporary appointment Tuesday. Shreve, who lives in St. Mary's County and has been serving as environmental systems regional supervisor for the Southern Region Water and Wastewater Division in Millersville, started the job Monday.

Shreve has worked in the public utility field for more than 31 years, including in Baltimore, Anne Arundel County and St. Mary's County. He is the chairman of the Maryland Board of Certification for Water and Waste Systems Operators, a gubernatorial appointment. He also serves on the St. Mary's County Commission on the Environment.

St. Mary's Forum

The St. Mary's County Board of Commissioners will conduct this month's public forum at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Governmental Center, 23115 Leonard Hall Dr., Leonardtown.

The public is welcome. Phone calls to commissioners are encouraged and will be taken at 301-475-4200, Ext. 1343.

The forum will be taped for broadcast on Channel 95.

Public Relations Luncheon

Brooks Jackson, the author of "UnSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation," will speak at noon Aug. 16 at a meeting of the organization of Public Relations Individuals of Southern Maryland.

The luncheon will be at Hilton Garden Inn, 13100 Dowell Rd., Solomons.

To attend, contact Kim Flynn at flynn@navmar.com or telephone 301-863-7980 by Aug. 10. The cost is $12 for members and $15 for non-members.

Jackson is a District journalist who covered national politics for 34 years, reporting for the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal and CNN. At CNN, he pioneered the "adwatch" and "fact-check" form of stories, debunking false and misleading political statements, starting with the 1992 presidential campaign.

"One message I have is that the news media do a poor job of helping voters and consumers sort out the deceptive claims from the solid evidence," Jackson said in a statement. "The good news is that the Internet, for all the garbage and nonsense it contains, is a powerful tool for getting good information, if you know how to use it. And we tell you how."

Agency Moving to New Home

The Charles County Department of Community Services is moving to its new building, 8190 Port Tobacco Rd., this week.

Department offices, on-site child-care program and discount ticket office will be closed tomorrow.

The department will open Monday at the new location. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the child-care program.

After a fire at the old Port Tobacco offices, operations were housed temporarily at 101 Catalpa Dr. in La Plata. That office will close at the end of today.

For information, call 301-934-9305.

Historic Trail Praised

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) this week hailed the passage of the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail Act, designating the routes used by U.S. and British soldiers during the War of 1812 as a National Historic Trail.

The trail extends through parts of Virginia, the District and Maryland, including sites in Hoyer's congressional district in Calvert, Charles and Prince George's counties. Hoyer sponsored the bill, whose lead sponsor was Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.). It passed the House unanimously.

"The designation of this route as a National Historic Trail will serve as a reminder of the importance of liberty and Maryland's role in defending it," Hoyer said in a statement.

The sites along the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail mark some of the most important events of the War of 1812, often referred to as the second war for independence.

The trail, commemorating the only combined naval and land attack on the United States, begins with the June 1814 battles between the British Navy and the U.S. Chesapeake Flotilla at St. Leonard's Creek in Calvert County. It includes the British landing at Benedict in Charles County and the invading troops' march through Prince George's County to Washington. The trail ends at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, where the national anthem was composed and the British were ultimately defeated.

The designation provides opportunities for resource protection, as well as active and passive interpretation. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) is the lead sponsor of the Senate companion legislation.

Park Unveils Boardwalk

Visitors to Point Lookout State Park will be able to view the life cycle of a salt marsh firsthand thanks to a new 420-foot boardwalk built by the Maryland Conservation Corps.

Designed by Point Lookout Park maintenance supervisor Jim House in 2006, the boardwalk was constructed to connect the Periwinkle Trail to a park camping loop and provide visitors unusual access to the marsh. Named for the periwinkle snail of the salt marsh, the trail follows a remnant railroad line, providing scenic views of the park's wetlands and tidal ponds.

Dawn Letts of the conservation group supervised the construction project, undertaken by the Greenwell corps crew and supported by volunteers, park staff and seasonal park trail workers. The project took 10 months to complete.

The Maryland Conservation Corps is an AmeriCorps program. People 17 to 25 spend 11 months serving Maryland's conservation needs. Members work in crews throughout the state to plant trees, restore shorelines and streams, provide environmental education programs and maintain and construct hundreds of miles of trails in state parks each year.

Bay Cleanup May Get Funds

The languishing effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay could get a huge boost, $80 million a year to reduce pollution, under provisions of the federal farm bill moving through Congress.

The money included in a bill that won committee approval in the House last week would more than double the federal spending on measures to reduce farm pollution across the Chesapeake's watershed. Environmentalists have said for years that a funding increase on that scale was a dire need but had found little enthusiasm on Capitol Hill.

This year a group of lawmakers from across the watershed, which stretches from southern Virginia to Upstate New York, pushed for the bay to be singled out for federal money.

Among vocal backers were House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Pollution from farms accounts for more than 40 percent of the Chesapeake's two most troublesome pollutants, nitrogen and phosphorus. Those substances are present in chemical fertilizer and manure and often wash off farm fields and into bay tributaries during rainstorms. In the bay, they help create huge algae blooms, which consume the oxygen fish and crabs need.

Staff writer David A. Fahrenthold contributed to this report.