Thurmont considers stormwater storage site  

By Richard D. L. Fulton
News Editor

An ideally sized retention pond would help alleviate the demand on the wastewater treatment plant by allowing excessive ”wild water” to be diverted into the holding area for future processing.

Board President “Mayor” Martin A. Burns told his fellow commissioners at the Dec. 19 meeting that the proposed storage compound would be used most during “catastrophic overflow,” and principally for short-term emergency storage.

However, to be able to use the land or to see how best to manage the land, the extent of wetlands on the site needs to be determined, since wetlands are protected under both state and federal law.

Burns said at the meeting, “Unless there is a state law … that would prevent that (establishment of the basin) … it could hold 2.4 million gallons. We think there would be a significant amount of storage with that (land acquisition).”

The present plans envision modifying an existing man-made pond on-site into a holding pond for the wastewater. Modifications would include lining the pond to prevent the escape of the stored, diluted wastewater. Burns said the site could potentially even be used for expanding the wastewater treatment facility.

He explained that a real estate agent had approaching the town, offering to let the town buy the site (from the Humerick family). “Even is half (proved to be) wetlands,” Burns said, “it would be worth buying.” Burns would not confirm information obtained by The Dispatch indicating the property might cost around $100,000.

The wetlands determination work needs to be done first, and there are no projected costs to create the proposed water containment pond (retention basin). But the board noted that it would cost a great deal more to construct water storage towers to hold the excessive stormwater. A water tank, Burns said, could run from $750,000 to $1 million.

According to Burns, two companies have bid on conducting the wetlands study, but the company names have not been made public. The lowest bid is $1,900, but includes only the study. The higher bid of $3,000 is a complete package, including the study and representation by the company before MDE and/or the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

Because of the need to know how much of the proposed site may be wetlands, “We have to spend the money to determine if we (even) want to buy it (the land),” Burns told The Dispatch.

Editor’s Note: “Wild water” is a combination of groundwater that infiltrates the wastewater collection system through cracks and breaks in pipes below ground and rainwater or melting snow that flows into the system through manholes, storm drains or basement drains.