County Water & Sewer Plan

In Maryland, the State delegates the planning and coordination for water supply and wastewater disposal services to each county government. The Montgomery County government addresses this responsibility through the Ten-Year Comprehensive Water Supply and Sewerage Systems Plan (Water and Sewer Plan), which ensures that existing and future water supply and wastewater disposal needs are coordinated in a manner that:

• Is timely and cost-effective
• Is well integrated with land use planning efforts
• Protects the health, safety, and welfare of residents, businesses, and institutions
• Protects the quality of the environmental resources of the county, the state, and the Chesapeake Bay region
• Helps to improve the quality of the environmental resources of the county, state, and region

Under State law, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) requires the County to prepare a comprehensive update of the Water and Sewer Plan every three years. Between comprehensive updates, the County approves amendments to the plan (such as service area categories, new or revised policies, and technical information) through procedures described in Chapter 1 of the Plan.

The County Executive, acting through the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), prepares the Plan's comprehensive updates and also provides recommendations to the Council for action on proposed amendments. DEP, with the assistance of other agencies, develops some amendments, typically those that involve policy issues or category changes that affect groups of properties. Property owners also propose amendments, usually those involving category changes for single properties or larger tracts intended for subdivision of new lots. Under state law, the County Council is responsible for approving the Plan and its amendments.

MDE maintains an oversight authority over the County’s Water and Sewer Plan and its amendments. The agency administers regulations that each county must follow in the preparation of its comprehensive plan, and acts to approve, approve with modifications, or disapprove the Plan or any Plan amendment submitted by the County. As part of this process, MDE seeks guidance from the Maryland Department of Planning for consistency with local and State planning use goals, policies and objectives.

The Water and Sewer Plan is a functional master plan for providing water and sewer services throughout Montgomery County. As such, it provides an important link between the County's land use and development planning and the actual construction of the water supply and sewerage systems needed to implement that planning effort.

The Water and Sewer Plan establishes policies that support the goals and objectives of the County's General Plan, On Wedges and Corridors , the subsequent Thrive Montgomery 2050 General Plan update, and their related local area sector and master plans. These policies emphasize: 

• The use of public water and sewerage systems along higher-density urban and suburban development areas
• The use of individual, on-site wells, and septic systems throughout lower-density suburban, rural, and agricultural areas

The Plan's policies are implemented in part by assigning water and sewer service area categories for all properties within the County. The service area categories:

• Designate whether properties are intended to be developed using (and are eligible for) public or private service
• Provide staging elements or a sequence for planning and providing public service

The Water and Sewer Plan provides information on the County's existing water supply and sewerage systems from beginning to end. It includes everything from the point where raw water is drawn from a surface water body or groundwater supply, through delivery and use by the consumer, to the final treatment and disposal or reuse of wastewater effluent.

The Plan provides projections for the future needs of water and sewerage systems, which result from land use planning studies, demographic projections, legal mandates, and policy requirements. It addresses these needs using a variety of approaches, such as:

• New, expanded, or replacement water and sewer facilities, such as transmission mains, pumping stations, storage tanks, or treatment plants
• Expansion of existing water or sewerage systems, or the use of alternative systems, to address communities experiencing public health problems from failing wells or septic systems
• New or updated programs and service policies that address issues like changes in sanitary service technology, support for new development concepts and protection from undesired sanitary system expansion or on-site system use.

Coordination between the Water and Sewer Plan and  local area master plans and sector plans is crucial to the development planning and water/sewer planning processes. Master and sector plans direct the character, pattern and density of development in the County's communities. The level of coordination between master plans and water/sewer service planning varies. A sector plan for downtown Bethesda, an area served exclusively by public systems, will address water and sewer service issues only minimally.

However, the approved master plan for an area such as Damascus, for example, where service policies are more complex, addresses this subject at greater length. For master plan areas such as Damascus, DEP staff members are usually involved in the master plan development, review, and approval process from the early stages.

Master plans for areas such as Damascus, Clarksburg, and the Potomac Subregion, recognize that there are boundaries between areas recommended for service by public utilities as opposed to private, onsite water and sewer systems. These master plans typically address the County’s water and sewer service policies with a statement explaining that the provision of public and private water and sewer service is intended to follow the Water and Sewer Plan’s existing service policies.

Master plans may also make water and/or sewer service recommendations that differ from the policies in the Water and Sewer Plan. These recommendations may be either more restrictive or less restrictive as compared to the service policies in the Plan. In such cases, the master plan provides an explanation for the differing service recommendation. These cases are identified in Appendix C of the Water and Sewer Plan, Exceptional Service Policies and Recommendations. (Refer to the Plan contents in the preceding link provided on this page.)