Thrive 2050- Where Is the Focus on Water?

Ed Reed

The Short Story: Thrive 2050 is speeding toward approval at the Council with little to say about how we ensure clean water resources now and with future climate challenges. Until it offers clean water solutions, the plan is incomplete. Take 2 minutes to write the council before 12/14. Read on for more....

Thrive 2050, the County’s general plan update being considered by the Council, is troubling many residents regarding myriad shortcomings and inconsistencies.  A central concern remains - the significant overhaul by MC Planning of the draft that was crafted with public input (we breakdown the striking differences between the plans here)- a move that relegated any discussion of how we meet environmental goals and climate resilience into an Non-binding appendix of suggestions.

And yet the plan seems to be speeding toward approval at the Council.

There is one glaring omission from the plan that should give the Council pause.
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Why does Thrive barely mention water resources - the one most critical resource we can't do without?​


 We can't emphasize this problem better than supporter Amanda Farber did on Facebook:

How Thrive Fails on Water:

In a plan meant to chart the future of our community- what you focus on is what you get more of - so where is the focus on the most essential resource we need?  The plan points to a 2010 functional water resources plan for guidance - that plan is both dated and expires in 2030. 

Thrive Omissions:

• The plan makes no mention of: "Chesapeake Bay" , "Potomac River", or "Patuxent River" and passing mention of the sole source aquifer that supplies most of the Reserve. The plan seems willfully disinterested in where our water comes from or where it is ultimately going.

• Unlike the plans of  surrounding jurisdictions , Thrive contains no watershed maps or stream quality maps and thus no discussion of their import.
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• The plan makes no mention of projections from the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin that by 2040 we will have severe droughts where demand will far exceed supply, even with the 4 proposed new reservoirs.
  
  
• The Thrive draft moving toward approval already has 60% fewer instances of the word "equity" than the draft created with public input. Water is an equity issue. The quality of the water that flows from the tap and through our streams matters to all neighborhoods. Like other green infrastructure like canopy cover,  stream mapping would show that poorer neighborhoods have disproportionate water quality deficits with the associated public health issues.

So Now What?

The Council can not responsibly pass Thrive 2050 unless it includes a comprehensive vision of how we secure and distribute our water resources. 
Restoring the environmental chapter that was relegated to the appendix would go a long way to meeting this need. 
Take 2 minutes to let the Council know your thoughts before the next listening session on December 15: 

Take Action