Maryland and Baltimore City officials battled a complicated water main break Tuesday that kept about 1,500 state employees from work in the William Donald Schaefer Tower downtown.
City Public Works spokesman Kurt Kocher said the city?s repair efforts on a break near the intersection of East Baltimore and St. Paul Streets were slowed because valves on Baltimore Street were recently paved over and other utility lines are directly atop the main break. Complicating matters, he said, a backup water supply inside the state-owned building is not working.
“That?s their responsibility,” he said. “If they have that valve fixed inside the building, they can reopen.”
The secondary water supply was blocked because the valve was stuck in place, according to Dave Humphrey, a spokesman for the state?s Department of General Services, which oversees facilities and maintenance. Humphrey said if crews attempted to open the “frozen” valve and it broke, they risked flooding the tower?s basement.
