Residents learn about water regulation plans

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008

The Oct. 2 event aimed to give citizens the background necessary to participate in upcoming public hearings on the water management plan, a new state requirement, according to Planning and Zoning Director Greg Bowen. The plan must be finished and submitted by October of next year.

Among challenges facing the Chesapeake Bay and Patuxent River are erosion from construction and nutrients from agriculture, septic systems and other sources, said Bowen and other staff members.

The involvement of Calvert countians with the water could be a vital step in improving the situation because it will cause the community to care about it, Bowen said.

‘‘For people to care about the water they have to make use of the water, so we worry about having enough access,” he said.

Bowen said he is pleased with the presentation and confident it will help prepare the public for hearings in May or June 2009.

‘‘For our staff, it’s been a labor of love because we’re all very much interested in the river and bay water quality,” he said.

Lusby resident John Zalusky said he found the presentation informative. He hopes to see improvements in water quality, he said.

The water ‘‘is very integral to the quality of our community,” he said. ‘‘I think that’s extremely important. I like boating and I want the bay as clean as I remember it. I used to go in Mill Creek and you could see 5 feet in the summer — now you can’t see much of anything beyond your arm.”

Local involvement is also important because it might stave off state or federal intervention, he said.

‘‘It gives a clear importance not just to nitrogen but to [harmful nutrients] phosphorus and nitrogen and a combination of these things,” Zalusky said. ‘‘Either we’re going to clean up ourselves, or the state and federal government is going to make us do it and I’d rather see us do it ourselves. Though developers can accrue a lot of political power — that’s just the nature of democracy.”

The presentation is available online at www.co.cal.md.us. Click ‘‘Planning and Zoning,” and information about the Water Resources Element will be on the left of the page.