Local
Officials still at odds over how to prevent main breaks
By: Kathleen Miller
Examiner Staff Writer
December 24, 2008
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley Wednesday toured the site of a enormous water main rupture that trapped motorists and closed schools, but area officials were still quarreling over how to prevent future water system catastrophes.
O’Malley bore witness to the 15-foot crater left on Bethesda’s River Road after a 5-foot-6-inch water pipe exploded Tuesday morning, forcing nine motorists to ditch their cars in currents resembling white water rapids and wade through icy water to the side of the street.
“This was an unprecedented incident,” O’Malley said.
Water utility employees doing repair work on the roughly one-mile stretch of River Road that runs between Seven Locks Road and Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda said they hoped to have cars back on the major traffic thoroughfare by the weekend, perhaps even Saturday.
“If we don’t keep pace with maintenance, these things will happen,” O’Malley said.
Montgomery and Prince George’s officials were warned repeatedly over the past year that they should expect water main breaks to occur with greater frequency, because of the age of the region’s infrastructure. Leaders of the two counties, however, have been unable to agree on how to pay for replacing the shared infrastructure.
Andy Brunhart, the former general manager of the water utility, and his team had advocated for “an infrastructure renewal fee” of $12 to $20 a month per household that would go directly towards pipe replacement in the hopes of speeding the process.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and the water commissioners he appointed backed the plan, but Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson and the water commissioners he appointed were unanimously opposed to it. They suggested a sliding fee based on property value, which would shift the bulk of the cost to Montgomery County residents.
Prince George’s County Commissioner Juanita Miller at the scene of the Bethesda break Wednesday said water utility board members have a 10-year pipe replacement plan ready to go, but where the money will come from remains a source of debate.
“Times are tight and you hear from a lot of people who have serious concerns about the cost of doing this,” Miller said.
Leggett said he and Johnson had yet to speak more than 24 hours after the pipe burst occurred, but he maintained they discuss the water infrastructure problems regularly, although acknowledged no solution had been found.
“I don’t want us to end up in a situation where Montgomery County is financing everything that needs to be done to fix this system,” Leggett said.
This is the third major failure of the water system in the past six months: In June, Montgomery County health officials closed 1,300 restaurants and told tens of thousands of residents to boil their water before drinking it for days after another pipe burst. Tens of thousands Prince George’s County lived under a similar boil water advisory earlier this month after a pipe burst.
Montgomery Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, who leads a County Council panel that oversees water infrastructure, said it may be time for the counties to divide the system.
“It’s long been an issue,” Floreen said. “Maybe this is the time to take a long, hard look at going our separate ways.”
O’Malley bore witness to the 15-foot crater left on Bethesda’s River Road after a 5-foot-6-inch water pipe exploded Tuesday morning, forcing nine motorists to ditch their cars in currents resembling white water rapids and wade through icy water to the side of the street.
“This was an unprecedented incident,” O’Malley said.
Water utility employees doing repair work on the roughly one-mile stretch of River Road that runs between Seven Locks Road and Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda said they hoped to have cars back on the major traffic thoroughfare by the weekend, perhaps even Saturday.
“If we don’t keep pace with maintenance, these things will happen,” O’Malley said.
Montgomery and Prince George’s officials were warned repeatedly over the past year that they should expect water main breaks to occur with greater frequency, because of the age of the region’s infrastructure. Leaders of the two counties, however, have been unable to agree on how to pay for replacing the shared infrastructure.
Andy Brunhart, the former general manager of the water utility, and his team had advocated for “an infrastructure renewal fee” of $12 to $20 a month per household that would go directly towards pipe replacement in the hopes of speeding the process.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and the water commissioners he appointed backed the plan, but Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson and the water commissioners he appointed were unanimously opposed to it. They suggested a sliding fee based on property value, which would shift the bulk of the cost to Montgomery County residents.
Prince George’s County Commissioner Juanita Miller at the scene of the Bethesda break Wednesday said water utility board members have a 10-year pipe replacement plan ready to go, but where the money will come from remains a source of debate.
“Times are tight and you hear from a lot of people who have serious concerns about the cost of doing this,” Miller said.
Leggett said he and Johnson had yet to speak more than 24 hours after the pipe burst occurred, but he maintained they discuss the water infrastructure problems regularly, although acknowledged no solution had been found.
“I don’t want us to end up in a situation where Montgomery County is financing everything that needs to be done to fix this system,” Leggett said.
This is the third major failure of the water system in the past six months: In June, Montgomery County health officials closed 1,300 restaurants and told tens of thousands of residents to boil their water before drinking it for days after another pipe burst. Tens of thousands Prince George’s County lived under a similar boil water advisory earlier this month after a pipe burst.
Montgomery Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, who leads a County Council panel that oversees water infrastructure, said it may be time for the counties to divide the system.
“It’s long been an issue,” Floreen said. “Maybe this is the time to take a long, hard look at going our separate ways.”
More from Kathleen Miller
- MoCo police will review handling of assistant fire chief’s crash
- Atheists get day in court over effort to ban God from inauguration ceremony
- Leggett wants new Rockville jail, council chief calls too pricey
- Opposing groups probe immigration policies in Md.
- Md.’s River Road reopens after water main break
