I. President’s Corner         John Randall, a Director who had been on the Board almost as long as the water company has existed and a long time resident of Calvert Beach, passed away this spring.  His 30 plus years as a Navy Seabee gave him wide ranging knowledge of system maintenance and repair, and we will feel the loss of John’s expertise and input for years to come.

Joan Humphreys who has been our Secretary-Treasurer for many years is moving on.  Joan has been involved with the company for over 15 years, first as our bookkeeper and the person who converted our accounting system from 3 X 5 index cards to a computer to track billing and accounting.  Joan is also responsible for establishing our present day financial records and office processes.  Joan is planning to move from the area to be closer to her primary job, which will give her more time for her avocation as an artist.  Look for her work in local galleries.  She captures our bay scene memories on canvas.  We thank Joan for her many years of helping to develop the company we have today. 

You will note in the budget that a rate hike was necessary this year.  It is important for our members to know that we spent a very long time seeking alternatives to avoid increased costs.  Several of our pump houses were deteriorating and we have been working on necessary repairs and remodeling.  Another major consideration this year is our water allocation permits, which we have spoken about before.  The projected costs for this ongoing challenge are unknown at this point, but we set a budget allocation of $10,000 for associated costs, and we feel that will be a minimum.  We have been working on this issue for a long while and hope that it will finally be resolved this year.  These items will be discussed further in this newsletter.

You can do your part helping to maintain low costs by being aware that clean drinking water has become a precious commodity, and conserving accordingly.  If it becomes necessary to drill new wells in this area, it is possible that those wells may have to be drilled into an aquifer, which is 1600’ deep here, and it will be expensive to do so.

Please attend our annual meeting in September and let us know what you feel we can do to improve our company in coming years.

Sincerely,

Gary Clarke, President

II. Water System Improvements

In this past year, we have focused on maintaining and rebuilding our infrastructure.  With some parts of our system dating back to the 1930’s and the system evolving as needed over the years, we have many non-standard configurations.   We continue our systematic process of replacing in-ground pipe to eliminate the “old” mains while increasing system control and reliability.  This year we eliminated main sections on Long Beach Road and Flag Harbor Boulevard.  Our “piece meal” approach allows us to work within a yearly budget without a major cost expenditure.  The neediest sections (as determined by past leaks or lack of isolation) get replaced first.  We are also factoring in considerations to get pipe out from under the roadway to eliminate tearing up roads when we have to do work. 

In addition, we made improvements at Slater and Rausch by enclosing the outside equipment.  At Slater we enclosed the emergency generator and at Rausch we built a new structure that covers the old pump house as well as the below-grade pneumatic tank.
	We continue to improve the operation of the company in other ways as well.  We are updating AUTOCAD drawings of the system piping.  After an extensive review, we now have the “best guess” of what we have for piping throughout the system.

III. Water Allocation

             The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) permits water allocation to each and every user of water from the underground aquifers.  BWC’s permits have expired.  Our water system, developed in the 1930’s, predates MDE’s permitting of water allocation.  When water allocation was put in place, our allocation was based on the number of existing homes in the community and not the number of homes that would be built as is done with new subdivisions today.  Back then the number used to calculate our allocation may have been a little less than 400 homes.  We now are close to 800 homes and near the end of our potential build out.  Community water allocation is calculated on a per household basis.  We have been negotiating with MDE to determine exactly what needs to be done to increase our allocation.  We have contended that we are not a new user and our original allocation was incorrectly calculated based on the number of existing homes and not on our build out.  This then should allow an administrative paper work change.  MDE does not have any aquifer performance data for our area and therefore would like us to do engineering and hydro geological tests to demonstrate aquifer draw down and replenishment.  Unfortunately, this can be at the costs of over $10,000.00 to prove that the aquifers can meet our daily needs, in which they already do.  No matter the outcome of this situation, in the coming months, we will be hosting public hearings to discuss renewing our water allocation permits.  We have been extremely conservative in our water management and that has allowed the number of homes to rise to our build-out under the existing allocation.  In these public hearings, we will present our needs and request the allocation that should have been originally established for us.  We look forward to your support in this matter.

IV. Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund (BRF)

          Effective January 1, 2005,  Beaches Water Co-op began collecting $7.50 per quarter for the State of Maryland from each customer as required by the BRF legislation.  In 2004, the Maryland State Legislature passed Senate Bill-320 to establish the Bay Restoration Fund.  The purpose of this fund is to improve the environment and water quality of the Chesapeake Bay.  This fund will be used to upgrade wastewater treatment plants and septic systems in the critical area and implement cover crop on agricultural land through an environmental surcharge fee.  Since the BRF does not just apply to those on water and sewer systems, starting October 1, 2005, Maryland County governments will collect $30.00 per year from households on private wells or septic systems.  Additional information is available at  www.mde.state.md.us/water/cbwrf/index.asp

V. Annual Water Quality & Consumer Confidence Report
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Our drinking water is safe and meets all federal and state requirements for community drinking water.  In 2004, there were no water quality violations. Our water quality results are based on the monitoring cycle for the contaminant up to December 31^st, 2004.  Terminology used in this report is what is generally accepted as a means of measurement of the degree of contaminates in the water.  Contaminates include natural occurring items in the water such as minerals and foreign matter which may or may not be acceptable based on the level detected.  The amount of containments in our drinking water is well below levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency in all categories.  We routinely monitor for contaminates in your drinking water according to Federal and State laws.  All drinking water, including bottled drinking water, may be reasonably expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminates.  It's important to remember that the presence of these contaminates does not necessarily pose a health risk.  If you have any questions about the Annual Water Quality Report or concerning your water service, please contact us at 410-586-8710.-

Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has completed a Source Water Assessment of the Beaches Water Company wells in the Nanjamoy and Aquia aquifers.  This report is available in the office for public review. 

Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immuno-compromised persons such as persons with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. EPA/Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by Cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).