Ms. Phillips's comments came during a work session on a bill to outlaw new dump sites for fly ash, a plentiful by-product of coal combustion that has been linked to 23 contaminated wells in Gambrills.

Several councilmembers questioned whether to delay the bill until an agreement on how to fix the Gambrills problem is reached between the Maryland Department of Environment, which regulates the site, and the companies that own it and bury fly ash there.

The secrecy of those negotiations has frustrated councilmen, who want MDE to weigh in on the ban.

The contaminated wells began making headlines in October, when fly-ash producer Constellation Energy began providing bottled water to residents on Summerfield Road. The county Health Department launched an eight-month, $100,000 investigation to find out how many wells near the dump site harbored the heavy metals known to cause cancer and whether they were linked to fly ash deposits nearby.

"In a way, we thought we got lucky," Ms. Phillips said. "Any other place in the county could have had a much worse impact."

Her project, which enlisted a study from the Department of Natural Resources, showed the county's well in Crofton Meadows that provides nearly 70,000 county residents with drinking water was not at risk. However, dangerous substances had drifted through the aquifer more than quarter mile from where the fly ash was deposited in a hollow sand and gravel mine owned by BBSS.

That operation is regulated by the Maryland Department of Environment, but Ms. Phillips and County Executive John R. Leopold have asked the council to help put an end to new fly ash landfills in Anne Arundel County.

Meanwhile, MDE, Constellation Energy and BBSS are facing an Oct. 1 deadline to forge a plan to mitigate dangers at the Gambrills site.

In contemplating whether to delay discussion on the bill, councilmembers cited wanting input from MDE and inconsistencies about whether fly ash should be completely banned.

"There's no real uniform treatment of this," said Council Chairman Ron Dillon, R-Pasadena.

He also said that in his conversations with MDE officials, he was told the department could not comment publicly on the Anne Arundel ban until it reached an agreement with Constellation and BBSS. Also, he said, newer state regulations have been put on a fast track that should reach the Maryland General Assembly by the 2008 session.

His colleagues also questioned whether the county needs to create stricter rules about where and how fly ash can be deposited in landfills.

Ms. Phillips countered that state laws make it MDE's charge, not the county's responsibility, to monitor that activity.

Mr. Dillon said that in his research, the substance was banned in California but deemed safe in Nebraska. Ms. Phillips agreed that EPA actions and regulations on fly ash create uncertainty over when the substance can become hazardous, though she quickly added, "In terms of what we've seen in these wells, it is hazardous."

She also told councilmen, "I want it stopped so we don't have to worry."

Fly ash also is used to make asphalt and concrete, alternatives Ms. Phillips supports instead of burying in the ground.

"The responsible placement of fly ash is not what we've seen at the Gambrills site," Ms. Phillips said. "This is a mess. This is a mess that we are all confronted with."

Councilman Ed Reilly, R-Crofton questioned whether other landfills, including those containing rubble, may also create risk for well contamination. He called for a comprehensive inventory of buried hazardous materials in Anne Arundel County.

He pointed out that other government officials knew the fly ash in Gambrills could be a problem for years but did not warn county health officers until they started delivering bottled water to homes near the mine.

Councilman Jamie Benoit, a Democrat from Crownsville whose district contains the dump site, summarized some of the council's concerns that EPA regulations makes fly ash "neither fish nor fowl" in clearly defining whether it's hazardous or not, the regulations are "all over the map" and whatever MDE does in the Gambrills case "it will be something short of a ban."

A public hearing for the ban is scheduled for the regular County Council meeting that begins at 7 p.m. Monday in the Arundel Center, 44 Calvert St. in Annapolis.