Public Utility Services of Coastmont Community
Coastmont County stretches across the fall line of Maryland and includes areas of public water and sewer service that are in both the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions. Water supply in the Piedmont area is derived from limited groundwater sources, while in the Coastal Plain area, the groundwater sources are relatively abundant. The wastewater discharge methods currently used are spray irrigation and tertiary treatment facilities with biological nutrient reduction (BNR). The WWTPs discharge into Coastmont River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay and Jones Creek, an upland stream of the Coastmont River in the Piedmont area. The town of Forestville uses a spray irrigation system in the Yorkie River watershed. Please refer to the Coastmont County Water and Sewerage Master Plan for details on each water and wastewater facility and the utility demand and allocation methodologies.
Sewer Service
Coastmont River Watershed*
Coastmont County owns and operates the Big Pond WWTP, which serves the unincorporated community of Waverly and surrounding suburban areas. The Big Pond WWTP is a 15 MGD activated sludge BNR tertiary treatment facility. It is currently being upgraded to ENR to meet the nutrient cap permit discharge limits and to provide needed discharge capacity. Current flows are exceeding the permitted discharge and a building moratorium is currently in place. A sewer equivalent dwelling units (EDU) allocation policy has also been developed to prevent future over-allocations and the resulting permit violations. The discharge is a deep water outfall at the mouth of the Coastmont River estuary to the Chesapeake Bay.
In the Piedmont region, the Jones Creek WWTP serves the town of Piedmont and is a 0.8 MGD activated sludge BNR plant that discharges into Jones Creek, a tributary of the Coastmont River. Given the projected growth in and around the town of Piedmont and plans to connect a number of failing septic systems from surrounding areas, a plant expansion is necessary to meet future service demands. An ENR upgrade to the Jones Creek WWTP will help the town take steps toward meeting the fecal coliform, nitrogen and phosphorus TMDLs for this waterbody.
Yorkie River Watershed*
Within the Yorkie River Watershed, the Woody Thistle WWTP serves the town of Forestville and is also a four MGD activated sludge BNR plant that uses outlying drain fields for its spray irrigation discharge. This system is operating very efficiently and will not require any enhancements within the planning horizon.
* See Coastmont County Watershed Map
Water Supply
The county-owned water supply system serves the Waverly area. Coastmont County obtains its raw water from groundwater within the Coastmont and Shasta confined aquifers. The town of Piedmont owns and operates its own water supply system and uses groundwater from the Piedmont crystalline strata (fractured, unconfined aquifer). The town of Forestville’s water supply system, also owned and operated by the town, obtains its water from deep wells in the coastal plain Coastmont aquifer.
Individual private wells in the Coastal region tap the upper unconfined aquifers. In the Piedmont region, individual wells tap groundwater from the same Piedmont crystalline strata as the town of Piedmont.
