Nearly one year after heavy metals were discovered in their wells, Maryland residents finally hooked up to temporary public water system

October 1, 2007 - In October 2006, Constellation Energy began testing wells next to a mine owned by BBSS Inc. after Lawrence Brown, a Summerfield Road resident, said his water smelled putrid.

Constellation collected water samples and detected amounts of heavy metals, some carcinogenic. The county Health Department began its own investigation into wells and found that 23 of 83 tested were contaminated. Fly ash, a by-product of burning coal, that had been dumped at the BBSS mine by Constellation Energy, was the source of the contamination, the county said.

Since the first wells in Gambrills were found contaminated with carcinogenic metals from the dump site, residents began living off a supply of bottled water provided by Constellation Energy Group.

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