Report on Water Quality Withheld

[MountainLaurel]

'Cause you know, if you don't know the water is unsafe, it won't affect your health at all.

:eyes:

A report that shows a decline in quality in northern Montgomery County waterways has been held from public release for months by county officials who have delayed the gloomy news while they hunt for new methods to allow more development but keep streams healthy.

The unpublished data on the county's four "special protection areas" show that water quality in northern Montgomery is worse than in previous years and suggest that much of the decline comes from soil disturbed by rapid development in and around Clarksburg, according to several people familiar with the findings. The data suggest that sediment control systems used by builders and required by the county are not working well enough.

The impact of the findings could extend beyond Montgomery's borders. The four designated special protection areas -- Clarksburg, Upper Paint Branch, Piney Branch and Upper Rock Creek -- include streams and creeks that flow into the Potomac River and become part of the region's drinking-water supply. A decline in their condition could affect a wide swath of the metropolitan area, where officials have said that runoff from soil disturbance in new developments is a major cause of declining water quality in the Potomac.

Montgomery's environmental protection director, Bob Hoyt, confirmed that the report on the special protection areas has been held back even though the findings have been known for at least six months. Hoyt said he and other officials in the administration of County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) had been conferring to try to find potential solutions before releasing the data that document problems.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/25/AR2009012502405.html

[lynnertic]

1. This was held up in * administration, and seems to be on the verge of release now.

...."The findings have been known for at least six months."

[MountainLaurel]

2. Bush didn't have anything to do with it, though

This was a D administration trying to "soften the blow" and cover its ass.

[Muttocracy]

3. ah, Maryland - there are a number of Montgomery Counties. nt

[depakid]

4. "...while they hunt for new methods to allow more development"

Corrupt county feifdoms....