Thousands of Prince George’s County residents could once again be able to drink their tap water today, if a second round of tests for bacteria after a weekend pipe break comes back negative and a boil water advisory is lifted. A break in a 12-inch water main occurred about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the area around Central Avenue and the Capital Beltway, causing a loss of water pressure or water service for a roughly 39-square-mile area of the county.
Water service was restored around 5:30 Sunday, but a boil water advisory remains in effect for the 3,100 customer accounts in the affected region. Officials with Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, the utility that serves both Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, say tap water should be boiled for one minute, then cooled, before it is used for drinking, washing dishes, brushing teeth or preparing food. The first round of tests for coliform and e. coli bacteria came back negative Monday afternoon, and officials said the second and final round of test results are expected Tuesday morning.
This is the second time in five months that WSSC has issued a boil water advisory for customers. When a massive water main burst in Montgomery County in June, a boil water advisory was issued for tens of thousands of Montgomery County residents and local leaders closed an estimated 700 restaurants to prevent outbreaks of illness. Subsequent tests showed no bacteria was present in the water there.
Water utility officials have repeatedly warned over the past year that massive pipe failures were likely, unless the region took immediate action to pour money into replacing of aging pipes.
Leaders of the two counties, however, have been unable to agree on how to pay for replacing the pipes and even who should become the utility’s new general manager – the position has been vacant since the end of February. The pipe involved in the recent rupture was 44 years old, not ancient since 25 percent of the utility’s pipes are more than 50 years old. Officials suspect the break could be linked to construction near where the rupture occurred.
“Given that construction, the situation doesn’t lend itself to saying this is strictly an issue of aging pipes that caused this,” WSSC public affairs coordinator Mike McGill said.
