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March 1, 2005

Our reservoirs: Still full after all these years

The drought of 2002-2003 drained area reservoirs to historic lows, and they did not begin to recover until the fall of 2002. By late spring in 2003, thanks to persistent rain and snow, they were full again. And they have remained so ever since, even during the summer and fall of 2003 and 2004, when they would normally have been expected to make seasonal declines.

The Baltimore Department of Public Works has produced some interesting charts and graphs on the state of the reservoirs. It's a pretty hefty file, but here it is: Download file

Posted by Admin at 4:13 PM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Drought
        

Comments

Until Baltimore City stops wasting gallons of water with it's antiquated piping systems, and begins restoring the rivers below Liberty and Loch Raven, the city will be a blight on the state environment. So much ado is made about the Bay, and restoring it to acceptable levels, while two substantial freshwater tributaries are majorly impeded much of the year.

Baltimore's cavalier attitude towards the health of the freshwater portions Gunpowder and Patapsco River is nothing short of gluttonous and disgusting.

Tell me how great things are the next dry cycle, when the last 12 miles of the Gunpowder river are just a pile of wet rocks for six months straight, or the Patapsco has over 1/2 of it's volume interrupted by a dam that only overflows at all, 6 out of 10 years.

Liberty, and the new Loch Raven dam have the capability of minimum continuous discharges, and do not do so. Proper management of these resources would ensure drinking water for everyone, and restore the rivers to at least a passable state.

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About Frank Roylance
This site is the Maryland Weather archive. The current Maryland Weather blog can be found here.
Frank Roylance is a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He came to Baltimore from New Bedford, Mass. in 1980 to join the old Evening Sun. He moved to the morning Sun when the papers merged in 1992, and has spent most of his time since covering science, including astronomy and the weather. One of The Baltimore Sun's first online Web logs, the Weather Blog debuted in October 2004. In June 2006 Frank also began writing comments on local weather and stargazing for The Baltimore Sun's print Weather Page. Frank also answers readers’ weather queries for the newspaper and the blog. Frank Roylance retired in October 2011. Maryland Weather is now being updated by members of The Baltimore Sun staff
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