Cold Snap Caused 220 Broken Water Mains for WSSC

 

On Tuesday WSSC Water lifted the essential water use request for all 1.9 million customers in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Over the weekend and through Monday this request to use water only as necessary and conserve where ever possible was in effect. Due in part to the public’s water-conservation efforts, WSSC Water was able to  able to stabilize water pressure, and water storage levels have returned to normal. The Potomac and Patuxent Water Filtration Plants are fully operational to meet customer demand. The problems in the water system were caused by:

• A high number of water main breaks/leaks coupled with water production limitations brought on by the cold temperatures increased the risk of loss of pressure system-wide.
• From January 1-13: WSSC Water has experienced about 220 breaks/leaks in water mains with approximately184 of those occurring in the past 6 days.
• On Sunday, January 12, a 24” water main break and a 12” main break that had not been identified threatened system storage reserves. 

On Monday alone WSSC Water was responding to 52 breaks/leaks. As always customers are urged to contact WSSC Water’s Emergency Services Center at (301) 206-4002 to report any running water or if they smell chlorine, which is used to disinfect drinking water. Reports can also be made via the WSSC Water Mobile App using the Report a Problem feature.

WSSC Water was able to stabilize the system by calling in additional crews and emergency contractors to search for any unreported breaks/leaks and make repairs. With so many breaks happening, WSSC Water was forced to  shut down broken/leaking mains until repair crews were dispatched to the break in an effort to keep the system pressures stable. This caused longer than usual times for repairs and some customers  experienced water outages or lower pressure for more extended periods than usual. 

from WSSC

There is a direct connection between dropping water temperatures in the Potomac River and the increase in water main breaks. When the temperature drops the incidence of water main breaks rise. According to the WSSC, they typically see an increase in breaks a few days after the Potomac River temperature hits a new low. The dropping water temperature can “shock” water mains, and though the pipes become accustomed to the cold water; whenever water temperatures hit a new low, there is a spike in breaks. As seen in the chart above the recent cold snap and the one at the end of November have lead to an increase in breaks.

On average, WSSC crews repair more than 1,800 water main breaks and leaks each year, with the vast majority of them, approximately 1,200, occurring between November and February. WSSC has already repaired approximately 200 breaks and leaks in November and 220 since January 1 this year.  Last winter as seen below, the total number of breaks was above average. There is still a large percentage of the distribution system that is quite old.

WSSC Water spends approximately $17 million each year for emergency water main repairs alone, with about $10 million spent November through February. During a typical year, WSSC Water crews repair more than 1,800 water main breaks and leaks, approximately 65 % of which (1,152) occur between November and February.

Responding to these emergencies has slowed WSSC’s ability to replace the older water mains and WSSC continues to work to update the system. WSSC serves 1.9 million customers in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, with approximately 5,900 miles of water mains covering a 1,000-square-mile area. With such an extensive, aging distribution system spanning the two counties it is hard to keep up and very difficult to move forward to reduce the age of the system of pipes.

from WSSC