Inside Baltimore’s water treatment plants as city prepares to use Susquehanna River water amid drought

BALTIMORE — Baltimore City is preparing to blend a small amount of Susquehanna River water with water from Loch Raven Reservoir to supplement its drinking water supply as drought conditions strain the city's reservoirs.

The Department of Public Works expects to begin using the river as a supplemental source in early October, depending on reservoir conditions.

“This summer was hot and dry,” DPW Director Matthew Garbark said.

The city gets its primary water supply from rainfall and snowmelt collected in the Liberty, Loch Raven and Prettyboy reservoirs. As water levels decline, the Susquehanna provides another source during drought conditions.

“This is a culmination of multiple years of below the normal rainfall. We actually started monitoring this back in the winter and spring,” Garbark said.

He said the city has been using decades of rainfall data to monitor reservoir levels and determine when additional measures are needed.

“We use data, 50 to 100 years worth of rainfall data going back that helped us plot where our reservoir levels were,” Garbark said. “So we've been managing the reservoir levels, looking at the supply we have on hand, and this has helped us with these different decision points that we've had to make.”

The change will affect residents who receive water from the Montebello Treatment Plants, including parts of eastern Baltimore City and Baltimore County.

Garbark said people may notice minor differences in taste, odor or color, but the blending approach is designed to minimize those differences.

“We believe that this is going to basically render it indiscernible for people to really find any difference in it,” Garbark said.

Paul Sayan, deputy bureau head for DPW Water and Wastewater, said the treatment process remains consistent regardless of the city's raw water source.

“We're ensuring that the water quality remains the same regardless of our raw water source,” Sayan said.

The primary difference with river water, Sayan said, is its composition.

“Because it's river water, it has a little more sediment, a little more organic material. But beyond that, the treatment's the same,” Sayan said.

The Montebello plants — Plant 1 and Plant 2, located across from Hill Road — have a combined treatment capacity of 240 million gallons. The city is currently treating around 150 million gallons.

Mohammad Almafrachi, a water treatment engineer supervisor, walked through the treatment process.

Water from the sedimentation basin moves to a filtration area before accumulating in a clear well.

“It will be accumulated into the clear well. And after this step we will add lime to adjust the pH and also we will add chlorine, but this is as needed because this is called post chlorination,” Almafrachi said.

The entire process, from water entering the plant to being ready for distribution, takes between four and six hours.

From the clear well, treated water flows to underground reservoirs connected to the city's distribution system.

This is not the first time Baltimore has drawn from the Susquehanna River, but it has been more than 20 years since the city last did so.

Voluntary water restrictions have been in place since April. DPW said mandatory restrictions could become necessary if drought conditions worsen.

Garbark said an approaching El Niño weather pattern offers reason for optimism.

“This is going to be an El Nino that is supposedly record breaking. We've looked back going 50 years at strong El Nino years. Every one of those years has shown significant rainfall and precipitation in the winter and early spring. So our hope is that we are going to be able to recover and that we'll be able to go back to normal operations,” Garbark said.

Until conditions improve, residents are asked to continue conserving water by:

• Avoiding or limiting lawn and garden watering
• Avoiding washing cars, boats and outdoor surfaces
• Repairing leaking faucets, hoses and fixtures
• Running full loads in dishwashers and washing machines
• Taking shorter showers
• Turning off the faucet while brushing teeth

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