Reports
Chemical and physical character of municipal water supplies in Maryland
1969, Thomas, J.D. and Heidel, S.G.
Report of Investigations 9
Abstract
The 65 largest public water supplies in Maryland deliver about 378 mgd (million gallons per day) of water to over 3 million people. More than 80 percent, or 2,444,000 of these people, who use about 320 mgd, are supplied by either the Baltimore Bureau of Water Supply or the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. Samples of raw and finished water from most facilities were analyzed by the Geological Survey.
Sixteen municipal supplies use surface water; 43 use ground water, and 6 use both surface and ground water. Surface water serves more than 89 percent of the population, although more individual communities obtain their supplies from ground water.
Twenty-two public supplies reportedly add fluoride to their water and 10 supplies have natural fluoridation of 0.4 ppm (part per million) or more. The treated water of most municipalities is soft or moderately hard, and only 7 facilities deliver finished water that is classified as hard water or very hard water.
