Further study needed on regional management of Baltimore area’s water system, task force determines

The task force commissioned to recommend a new governance structure for the Baltimore region’s water system concluded Thursday that more analysis is needed before a new structure can be chosen.

At times during months of discussion, task force members appeared to gravitate toward a regional water authority, or a similar organization. That could allow a board of officials from around the region to manage the water system jointly.

Currently, Baltimore City owns and operates much of the area’s key water infrastructure, which now serves a greater number of residents in suburban Baltimore County. But some city officials have resisted ceding control of long-held city assets.

In its final recommendation, the task force stopped short of recommending transformational change.

The members stated that while the water authority idea “shows promise in addressing regional concerns about the existing governance structure,” the task force “does not have time to perform the requisite due diligence” to simply recommend it.

Commissioned by the Maryland General Assembly last year, amid high-profile water and wastewater treatment problems in Baltimore, the task force had about six months to prepare its recommendation for local officials.

Instead, the task force at its final meeting Thursday evening suggested that the legislature convene a new, “professional working group” to continue the analysis on regional governance models, and complete it within three years.

The task force’s biggest unanswered question was about what it would cost to transition to a regional water authority

For instance, would the city and county have to refinance their existing water and sewer debt to make the switch, which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars amid high interest rates. Other questions included what would happen to the city and county’s water and sewer workers — and their pensions — following a transition.

Professional consultants hired by the city to advise the task force stated that such questions couldn’t be answered easily “based upon a hypothetical conceptual governance model.” But the answers, if unfavorable, could easily “derail” a water authority.

But the environmental consulting company, WSP, still suggested that the task force recommend a regional water authority.

Ultimately, the task force recommended something less specific.

“Before considering any regional governance structure, we recommend that further evaluation of the threshold issues be conducted,” read the final recommendation.

The task force recommended that the General Assembly convene a new work group. This time, the group should be given legal counsel, since neither the city or the county’s law departments could advise the independent entity, according to the task force’s recommendations.

The new group, the task force said, also should create an equity analysis to understand the impact of such a transition on vulnerable residents, and assess whether a joint “City-County Rate Board” is necessary and feasible, to bring “equity to consumers and [address] the current disparity between the current city and county rates.”

The task force also recommended some near-term changes for the water system.

The members recommended that a “City-County Water Advisory Committee” be established, with members chosen by the mayor and county executive, with the goal of strengthening the system’s current operation.

Both the city and the county should study elevating their water and wastewater bureaus into standalone departments, the task force said. Currently these bureaus are housed within general public works departments, which also include functions such as trash pick-up.

According to the task force’s recommendation, the advantages of elevation include: “reducing the chain of command for decision-making, and elevating the ranks of [water and wastewater] managers, to justify salaries consistent more easily with attracting and retaining the best personnel.”

Representatives of water affordability groups, including nonprofit Food and Water Watch, had balked at the establishment of a regional water authority without significant study, and said Thursday that they were happy the task force hit the brakes. But they were concerned about some of the language missing from the task force’s final recommendation.

An earlier draft, which placed more emphasis on a regional water authority as a potential path forward, stated that the city ought to choose the majority of the representatives on any regional water authority board, “to respect the city’s ownership of the water & wastewater system.”

Edits suggested by the Baltimore County executive’s task force members, plus state Del. Dana Stein, who represents the county, removed the language, said Mary Grant, Public Water for All director at Food and Water Watch.

The task force’s debates highlighted a thorny push-and-pull between city and county.

Leaders in the county, which has gained population as Baltimore City depopulated over the years, generally believe they should have more say in how the water system’s largest assets, such as the treatment facilities, are run.

But city officials tend to argue the story is more complex, saying that Baltimore City’s infrastructure was critical to the county’s rapid expansion, and city residents have footed more of the bill over time.

The General Assembly’s intervention last year came in the wake of high-profile incidents with city-run water infrastructure. The city’s two wastewater treatment plants, which sit on the banks of the Patapsco River in Baltimore City and the Back River in Baltimore County, racked up environmental violations in 2021 and 2022 for inadequately treating sewage.

The pollution resulted in a multi-million dollar fine for the city. It enraged county residents living alongside the Back River, which came under no contact advisories amid high bacteria levels.

But the concern’s with the city’s management of the water system pre-dated the wastewater problems. Persistent issues with the city’s billing system, and problems with aging and underfunded infrastructure, were part of the reason the city and county jointly commissioned a study, released in 2021, that recommended greater regional cooperation.