June 18, 2010

Some wells getting little or no water due to abandoned mines
Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News

KITZMILLER — Garrett County plans to extend public water service to about 22 homes in an area that has suffered for several years from chronic water problems caused by abandoned coal mines.

The project will install public water to replace wells for about 20 existing and two planned residences located along Pee Wee Hill Road, Linda Lindsey, director of the Department of Public Utilities, told the County Commission Tuesday. The services will be an offshoot of the water system in nearby Kitzmiller.

Mike Garner, chief of the Abandoned Mine Lands division of the Maryland Bureau of Mines, said some of the residences have had no problems with their wells, but others have no water at all.

“The Bureau of Mines has drilled wells up there … with little success,” Garner said. “They have one well that’s over 1,000 feet, and I think it recharges 1 gallon per minute. So it’s expensive to try to drill wells, and we started looking at trying to extend the public water.”

One surface mine is still active on Pee Wee Hill, but Garner said an investigation by his office found that the active mine was not at fault.

“What’s at fault is there’s three levels of underground abandoned deep mines,” he said. “They had wooden props in there. The props are deteriorating, the roof is collapsing and that collapse makes its way to the surface.”

The project will be funded through a grant from the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Garner said.

“The grant’s in and we’ve asked them to expedite it,” he said. “If that gets approved, then we’ll jump right into design.”

These types of projects normally take about 2 years to develop, he said. But officials are trying to fast track the project and launch it by the end of the state fiscal year, which is June 30.

His office will work with county officials throughout the design and construction process “so that they get the end product that they want.”

The project will require the installation of a water tank and booster pump. Lindsey said the Kitzmiller system should easily handle the additional load.

The Pee Wee Hill extension will be considered its own separate service area, she said, and those residents will be charged the same rates as other public water customers countywide.

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