by caroline TAylor

The atmosphere , the earth , the water and the water cycle — those things are good gifts . The ecosystems , the ecosphere , those are good gifts . We have to regard them as gifts because we couldn ’ t make them . We have to regard them as good gifts because we couldn ’ t live without them . - wendell berry

ore often than not , when asked , folks in the D . C . metro region do not really have a fix on where the water that flows from their faucets comes from . Sure , residents and businesses know that they pay Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission ( WSSC ) for their water and sewage service , and they may know that the origin of their water is the mighty Potomac River . But as to the details — filtration plant operations , the infrastructure that delivers the water from plants to homes and businesses , what happens when there is prolonged drought , these bits are not broadly known .

More mysterious still to many is where roughly 25-30,000 homes , businesses and farm enterprises get their water from in the nearly one-third of Montgomery County that is wholly outside the WSSC service area by design . And that is the story I aim to share in two parts .

Consider this first installment an introduction to the groundwater aquifer that sustains the Agricultural Reserve and the rural communities that surround it . My aim is transparent : To know our sustaining water resources is to value them , and to value them is to foster necessary collaborative stewardship .

The water beneath our feet

Maryland ’ s Piedmont Sole Source Aquifer ( SSA , see map ) was first afforded the protective SSA status from the US Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) in 1980 and was extended southward through the municipality of Poolesville in 1998 due to tenacious efforts of Reserve community members beginning two years earlier . This federal designation acknowledges that the groundwater serve at least 50 % of the water use in an area and that there is no economical alternative drinking water source available . While not a panacea for protection for the groundwater , the designation does provide that any land use projects within the SSA area that receive federal funding will be subject to EPA review to ensure that they will not compromise the integrity of the resource , creating hazard to the public . Moreover , advocates for stewardship of the aquifer utilize the designation to educate as to its importance and fragility .

Within the SSA footprint , individual groundwater wells varying in depth from under 100 feet to

4 plenty I spring sowing 2024