BETTER GROUND-WATER MANAGEMENT 287 



ment practices in areas upon which the ground-water re- 

 charge is dependent. 



Baltimore, Md. The Baltimore Harbor District has a long 

 history of well-water use, with the first artesian wells drilled in 

 1853. By 1860 nearly 100 flowing wells were available in this 

 area. Decreases in yield and salt-water contamination began 

 to be apparent in the last part of the nineteenth century. In 

 spite of this, ground-water use increased progressively until 

 1940, and the area of the take shifted to the Patapsco estuary. 

 Practically all the wells of the Harbor District were aban- 

 doned because of contamination by salt or acid waters. Pump- 

 age reached a total of about 47 million gallons a day in 1941. 

 It was possible to reduce it to 34 million gallons a day in 

 1942 primarily by substituting, at the Sparrows Point Plant 

 of the Bethlehem Steel Company, treated Baltimore City 

 sewage effluent for some ground-water uses, as well as to sup- 

 ply increasing requirements. Since 1943, other well-water use 

 in the area has varied but slightly, even though virtually all 

 of the ground water pumped has been for industrial purposes. 

 Additional quantities required have been supplied by the 

 public surface-water system. 



Most of the water pumped is only slightly contaminated, 

 but few wells are entirely free of contamination. For the 

 deeper artesian aquifers the recharge area lies under the 

 Baltimore Harbor. Saline water has, therefore, penetrated 

 many wells. Pumping the saline waters has retarded the pene- 

 tration inland of this contamination. 



Industrial wastes likewise have been a contaminating in- 

 fluence, not only with respect to the water itself, but with 

 deleterious effects upon casings and abandoned wells. Many 

 of the abandoned wells are probably responsible for contami- 

 nation of the deeper aquifers, even though a few of the leaking 

 wells have been repaired by cementing. 



In recent years a much more detailed management program 

 has gotten under way under the auspices of the State of 

 Maryland. The program embodies control of the installation 



