Water System

After more than a year of spirited debate, the Antrim Township Board of Supervisors has approved the sale of its water system. At Tuesday's meeting, supervisors voted to sell the Antrim Township Municipal Authority water system to the Greencastle Area Franklin County Water Authority. GAFCWA Manager Kenneth Womack said the deal will cost the Borough of Greencastle more than $1 million and the borough would have to assume ATMA's $650,000 debt to the township. Before reaching an agreement, two main issues had to be ironed out. "One was (those)

An emergency water shutdown has occurred in the vicinity of Broadway Street from South Street to Madison Street due to a water main break, according to a news release from the city of Frederick. Residents are asked to travel cautiously through the specified work area. There are areas throughout the city experiencing water discoloration.  The Department of Public Works is working on the problem. The water has been tested and is safe, according to the release.  The problem started when Lake Linganore opened the spillway at the dam in anticipation of the impending hurricane and did not notify the city, according to the release.

Residents of the Hess development in Antrim Township showed up at the Greencastle Area Franklin County Water Authority meeting with a laundry list of questions about connecting to municipal water. The authority recently mailed letters to residents, telling them they must hook onto the authority’s water system, and had to decide by July 1. If no response was received, the property would be hooked onto the system at the owner’s expense, according to the letter.    Fred Young, a Hess development resident and an Antrim Township supervisor, asked the authority for an extension on the July 1 deadline.

Water system meeting set CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A public meeting for residents, property owners and users of the Harpers Ferry Campsites water sytems and the Westridge Hills water system will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3 at Blue Ridge Elementary School on W.Va. 9 in Charles Town. The West Virginia Bureau for Public Health will discuss actions it may initiate against property owners to bring the two water systems into compliance with current regulatory and design standard requirements.

After some delay, Antrim Township supervisors Tuesday night voted 5-0 to move forward with the sale of its water system to the Borough of Greencastle. The sale, already approved by the borough and its water authority, will consolidate water utility services into one entity that will serve both Antrim Township and the Borough of Greencastle. Supervisors chose to delay acceptance of the proposed sale because they wanted to ensure township residents would still be represented in perpetuity on the five-person Greencastle Antrim Franklin County Water Authority board.

CASCADE After a year in Mosul, Iraq, with the U.S. Army, Sgt. Joseph Beeman recently returned to the United States to a new home on High Rock Road in Pen Mar. But 2 1/2 months after he and his wife moved in - and after spending $14,000 to drill a well - they say they are facing the large unexpected expense of hookup and installation fees to a public water system they don't want but would be forced to use if the Washington County project goes...

scottb@herald-mail.com A $1 million federal grant to the Washington County Commissioners should provide the county with enough money to pay for a new water system to serve 80 homes in the Pen Mar area, Water and Sewer Director Greg Murray said Wednesday. The county also received a $142,000 federal grant that will help fund a sewer line connecting the county's sewer system with the city of Hagerstown's. Both grants are from the United States Department of Agriculture. The grants were announced Wednesday at a presentation at the Rocky Gap Convention Center in Cumberland, Md., attended by county, state and federal elected officials.

The Pen Mar-area water project temporarily hit a stumbling block Tuesday after one Washington County Commissioner refused to support the public water system, but it later was approved in a rare maneuver by the County Commissioners. Read the full story in Wednesday's Herald-Mail newspapers.

tarar@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - If the sale of the former Fort Ritchie U.S. Army base goes through, Washington County doesn't want the property's water system going with it. Two Washington County Commissioners said Monday that the system, which serves the base, should belong to the county. PenMar Development Corp. Chairman George G.B. Griffin said during a Monday morning meeting that the business buying the base, Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT)

On May 4 and 5, Erika Escalante, Rachel Hebb and Kate Whaley, members of Girl Scout Troop 40790, visited Lincoln Caverns in Huntingdon, Pa., and participated in a two-day workshop to earn their WOW! (Wonders of Water) Journey award. The girls learned how important it is to conserve water and maintain a clean water system for the future. They made a pledge to do their part to reduce their use of disposable cups and reduce the amount of trash that ends up in creeks and streams and made posters to spread the word.

Funkstown residents are not expected to see property tax rate increases in the coming fiscal year but a proposed budget for the period includes passing along a 6.5 percent water rate increase to town residents, town officials said Monday. Funkstown Mayor Paul N. Crampton Jr. and council members met in a workshop meeting at town hall Monday night to review the proposed budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. Last year, council members passed a 10 percent water rate increase. The 10 percent water rate increase was intended to cover a 6.5 percent increase the City of Hagerstown is imposing on Funkstown as part of a five-year plan to raise wholesale water rates to towns as Hagerstown looks to cover general inflation, operating costs and several major projects for its water system.

Tax hike may be needed to balance town budget CLEAR SPRING - Clear Spring residents could see a small tax increase included in the town's 2012-13 fiscal year budget, according to town officials. To match revenues of the current year, the town's tax rate would have to be raised by 3 cents, up to 28 cents per $100 of assessed property value, Town Clerk Juanita K. Grimm told the council Monday. “We have to. We have no choice,” Mayor Paul D. Hose Jr. said of the potential tax hike.

An alert was lifted Wednesday for 15 residents in southern Washington County who have been boiling their water since Aug. 23, when a magnitude 5.9 earthquake damaged Brunswick's water system,  city officials said. City Administrator Rick Weldon said the earthquake stirred up settled solids and sediment deep in the aquifer that serves Yourtee Springs. "Initially, we shut down the spring, which normally serves Weverton, New Addition and the west end of the City of Brunswick," Weldon said in an email.

An emergency water shutdown has occurred in the vicinity of Broadway Street from South Street to Madison Street due to a water main break, according to a news release from the city of Frederick. Residents are asked to travel cautiously through the specified work area. There are areas throughout the city experiencing water discoloration.  The Department of Public Works is working on the problem. The water has been tested and is safe, according to the release.  The problem started when Lake Linganore opened the spillway at the dam in anticipation of the impending hurricane and did not notify the city, according to the release.

Thirty gallons of fuel spilled at a diesel fuel pump Monday afternoon at 11633 Greencastle Pike, Sgt. Wesley Loveless of the Volunteer Fire Company of Halfway said. The incident happened at a Pilot Travel Center just off Interstate 70 at Exit 24. When firefighters arrived on the scene, Loveless said the fuel was already going down the drain at the pump. "That was good because it prevents runoff, which could cause the oil to get in the water system and the plants," he said.

Residents of the Hess development in Antrim Township showed up at the Greencastle Area Franklin County Water Authority meeting with a laundry list of questions about connecting to municipal water. The authority recently mailed letters to residents, telling them they must hook onto the authority’s water system, and had to decide by July 1. If no response was received, the property would be hooked onto the system at the owner’s expense, according to the letter.    Fred Young, a Hess development resident and an Antrim Township supervisor, asked the authority for an extension on the July 1 deadline.

A bike-and-boat rental facility in Williamsport, more computers for the Washington County Free Library central branch and a renovation loan fund for downtown Hagerstown buildings will be suggested for top consideration for Area Development Project grant funds in the next fiscal year, the Washington County Commissioners agreed Tuesday. The funds are available from the Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal-state-local partnership to improve the economy and quality of life throughout the Appalachian region.

A bike-and-boat rental facility in Williamsport, more computers for the Washington County Free Library central branch and a renovation loan fund for downtown Hagerstown buildings will be suggested for top consideration for Area Development Project grant funds in the next fiscal year, the Washington County Commissioners agreed Tuesday. The funds are available from the Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal-state-local partnership to improve the economy and quality of life throughout the Appalachian region.

The sale of the Antrim Township's water system has hit another dead end, forcing a Franklin County development agency to possibly pay back a $1.25 million state grant. In January, it looked like the nearly two years of haggling over the sale of the Antrim Township Municipal Authority water system to Greencastle Area Franklin County Water Authority was a done deal. But it fell apart two months later over the 10-home Hess development when the Greencastle authority refused to exempt the homes from Antrim Township Board of Supervisor's list of mandatory hookup exemptions, officials said.