Maryland officials don’t have an accurate picture of the state’s water supply — running the risk of shortages in times of drought, according to an advisory committee report released Friday.

“As we get closer to the limits of the resource, we have to be confident that we are not over-allocating the water,” said Brigid Kenney, planning director at the Maryland Department of the Environment, who worked with the independent Advisory Committee on the Management and Protection of the State’s Water Resources.

The committee, formed after the 2002 drought, offered several recommendations for addressing needs in the state’s water management.

If public and community water systems, which are permitted by MDE, draw too much ground or surface water, residential wells could run dry — as they did in southern Maryland last summer, Kenney said.

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Having a better picture of the water supply would inform permitting and help guide local jurisdictions on where to grow, she said.

To get this more comprehensive data, the state must spend about $72 million over the next eight years to fund, in part, two studies on water availability, the committee found.

Officials could model the effect of permits on area aquifers, Kenney said.

Without this investment, severe droughts could result in public health threats, dry water systems and moratoria on new development, the committee said.

“If Maryland acts now, however, it can improve and integrate water resources management programs to ensure adequate safe drinking water, healthy aquatic ecosystems, successful agriculture, vibrant communities and a thriving economy for Maryland’s future,” the report states.

Limited resources have been focused on meeting safe drinking water mandates, rather than on management and long-term planning, the report states.

The committee recommended Maryland officials:

  • prepare regional plans with state and local agencies and utilities
  • fully fund the two studies
  • develop guidance to increase water conservation
  • improve analytical tools for assessing the impacts of water uses

“Our environment is changing and we must improve the management of our water resources to adapt,” Gordon Wolman, a Johns Hopkins professor who chaired the committee, said in a statement.

smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com