by Geoff Fox
The last few weeks have been extremely hot and, minus a few stray showers, lacking substantial rainfall across the area.
High temperatures were forecasted to see triple digits on Monday and Tuesday and drop no lower than 86 through Sunday, according the National Weather Service.
With temperatures that high and little to no rain, Hancock joins much of the area in a drought designation.
According to U.S. Drought Monitor, and other weather outlets, Washington County west of Hagerstown is at a D2 drought, which is “Severe Drought.”
The same agency, as of July 9, showed 52% of Maryland as being D0 or abnormally dry compared to 12% as D2 or in severe drought.
According to Hancock Town Manager Mike Faith, the town isn’t in danger of running low on water despite the drought level.
The town draws its water from underground wells and Faith said the levels in those wells is still good and no problems have been experienced at the well houses.
The transducers that are dropped down to measure the level of the wells have been malfunctioning but are in the process of being replaced.
“Right now, I can’t tell you what the level in the well is, but we’re not having any trouble drawing or anything into the system, and all our tanks are full, so we’re in good shape,” Faith said.
If the drought were to continue for multiple months, that could change, but right now the town nor the county have any advisories listed.
While doing the interview for this article, Faith called Emergency Management Specialist Cody Swope of the Washington County Emergency Management Office.
Faith was told the county hasn’t made an official statement on the drought and has issued no notices or advisories.
Should that change, Faith would put something in the paper and on the town’s social media page and its sign along Pennsylvania Avenue to remind people not to use as much water.
“It’s going to be hard because people are going to be watering gardens and things like that,” Faith said.
The town only has enough water in the storage tanks to sustain the town for two days.
“That would be the breaking point,” Faith said.
The wells are checked seven days a week, 365 days a year no matter if it’s a weekday, weekend, or holiday by state law.
Adjusting lagoon operations
During the town meeting last Tuesday, Faith mentioned the town’s lagoon had been shut down for the month of July because of the drought.
Whenever there is a drought, Faith said there is a lot of vulnerability in the sewer system because there isn’t any storm water getting into the sewer system. All that’s going into the system is the actual wastewater, which is what the town wants.
The volume of wastewater treatment going into the treatment plant is lower, plus there is the evaporation of water at the lagoon due to the heat.
Since there isn’t a lot of flow, the town can legally shut down the lagoon for a period of time because there isn’t much discharge.
Once the level gets back, the lagoon can be treated and discharging again.
“We like to shut it down because we have an antiquated wastewater treatment plant,” he said.
There are aerators to get the bacteria working well to eliminate the ammonia and nitrates, which the town still struggles with.
There have been times when the town has been fined by the state because of the amount of nitrates in the discharge from the wastewater system.
“When we can shut the plant down, we know we’re not getting a violation that month because we’re not discharging anything,” said Faith.
That shutdown is allowed under the consent decree the town has been working under for a number of years. They just can’t shut the lagoon down for an extended period of time.
River & canal
The levels of the Potomac River don’t affect the Town of Hancock except in the C&O Canal.
The National Park Service has repaired the pump in the canal and river and has begun to refill the water in the canal basin. However, because the river level is so low, it’s going to take some time.
According to the National Weather Service, the Potomac River at Hancock was at 2.7 feet in depth on Monday, July 15. The gauge is located at bottom of Church Street.
