The Maryland agency tasked with overseeing public drinking water for more than 5.7 million people in the state needs nearly three times the staff and twice the budget to able to ensure that drinking water is safe, according to an analysis commissioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh (D) wrote a letter to Gov. Larry Hogan (R) demanding the governor shore up the drinking water program.
“Maryland’s drinking water remains at risk,” wrote Frosh. “This threat to the public health should not continue one more day.”
The analysis, conducted by the consultant group Cadmus, under contract with the EPA, found a “severe gap” between the resources currently available to Maryland’s water supply program, and the resources it needs to adequately ensure safe drinking water. The analysis found that the program’s “ability to protect public health is compromised.”
“You don’t have to look far to see what can go wrong,” said Frosh in an interview with DCist, pointing to the example of Flint, Mich., where lack of investment and oversight of an aging water system lead to a crisis of dangerously high levels of lead. “We’re not suggesting that we’re facing that situation at the moment, but we are suggesting that we don’t know what the health of our drinking water systems looks like across our state,” Frosh said.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Jacob Fenston over at DCIST
