Tuesday, March 26, 2013
A new leak was discovered blocks away from the 60-inch water main that failed March 18.
(Updated 3:40 p.m.) One week after the massive water main break at Connecticut Avenue and Chevy Chase Lake Drive, another leak was discovered in a pipe joint of 54-inch-wide main only a few blocks away. According to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, a leak was found in a wooded area near the 3200 block of Coquelin Terrace. A resident reported the leak to WSSC after seeing water on the ground Monday afternoon. WSSC said there were no reports of water outages and that there was no need for water use restrictions. The leaking pipe was connected to the 60-inch water main that failed March 18. Both pipes were equipped with an acoustic fiber optic system to alert WSSC of impending breaks. The system did not alert WSSC of the either of…
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Water restrictions necessitated by a massive water main break in Chevy Chase on Monday, March 18, were lifted at about 6 p.m. Saturday.
Mandatory water restrictions necessitated by a massive water main break in Chevy Chase Monday were lifted at around 6 p.m. on Saturday, according to a Montgomery County email alert. The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission lifted the water restrictions—which asked residents of Montgomery and Prince George's counties to reduce water consumption by 10 percent—following the completion of repair work to the broken 60-inch-in-diameter main. The restrictions were in place for four and a half days. The ruptured main is back in service, "but restoration of the area, including roadway, sidewalk, removal of damaged trees and work on the stream bed near the break, will take weeks," the alert reported. The additional work will require the right-…
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Water restrictions remain for Montgomery and Prince George's counties until repairs to the Chevy Chase Lake water main are complete, a process that whih could take several days.
Repairs to a 60-inch water main that spewed 60 million gallons of water in to the air Monday night continued Thursday in Chevy Chase. Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission crews removed the damaged 20-foot section of pipe and are working to weld a new section, according to a WSSC statement issued at noon Thursday. The water main, on Connecticut Avenue near Chevy Chase Lake Drive, burst at around 8 p.m. Monday, gushing 100 feet into the air. But equipment designed to alert WSSC of an impending break did not transmit a warning, The Washington Post reported. Read more about the anatomy of a water main break on The Washington Post's website. Fixing the water main could take several days, according to WSSC. WSSC issued mandatory water …
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Washington Suburban Sanitary customers are affected.
Rockville residents who receive their water from the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission are facing mandatory water restrictions for up to a week as a result of a water main break in Chevy Chase. But residents served by the city’s system are unaffected, city officials announced Tuesday. The WSSC issued the mandatory water restrictions for all of its customers after a break occurred in a 54-inch water main in Chevy Chase. On Monday night, the gushing water spewed three stories high, closing Connecticut Avenue overnight. The restrictions limit water use in showers, washing clothes and for other routine purposes. Rockville city spokeswoman Jenny Kimball said that while the city system was not affected by the water main break, many …
WSSC crews determined that the pipe that broke was a 60-inch water transmission pipe connected to a 54-inch line—not a 54-inch pipe, as originally reported.
Update, 1 p.m., Thursday, March 21: Repairs to the 60-inch water main that burst Monday night in Chevy Chase continued on Thursday. Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission crews removed the damaged 20-foot section of the pipe and are working to weld a new section in place, according to a WSSC statement issued at noon Thursday. "Once repairs to the pipe are complete later this afternoon it will take several more days for the work to conclude," the statement read. Only the right-hand northbound lane of Connecticut Avenue between Dunlop Street and Manor Road in Chevy Chase Lake remained closed Thursday. Mandatory water restrictions continued Thursday for Montgomery and Prince George's counties. "There is evidence that [water] consumption is …
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
City police: Two lanes of the road's eastbound side are closed.
Update, 4:55 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 26: Repairs on East Gude Drive following a water main break Wednesday morning will be completed today and all lanes will be open by 7 p.m., Rockville City Police reported via Alert Rockville. Two eastbound lanes between Taft Street and Redgate Farms Court will remain closed until that time, Rockville City Police Chief Terrance N. Treschuk said. Original post, 10:40 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 26: Two lanes are closed along eastbound East Gude Drive as crews from Rockville’s Department of Public Works repair a water main break. The break is in the 1700 block of East Gude Drive. City police reported at 8:30 a.m. that two left lanes were closed between Taft Street and Redgate Farms Court. “The far right traffic …
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
In the wake of July's water main breaks, the city goes on a high tech search for leaks
The City of Rockville's Department of Public Works is using state-of-the-art technology to ensure that there isn't another water main break like the two that occurred back-to-back in July. The approach includes using robots to check the 24-inch water main for structural problems. The culprit in both breaks was an electrical surge that stopped the pumps that move water through the main. In both cases, when the pumps restarted, a surge of water pushed through the pipe all at once. "Both those surges coincided with bad voltage delivered from Pepco. Pepco confirmed this," said Craig Simoneau, director of the Department of Public Works. "We believe the surge was a large factor in the breaks," Simoneau said. "The motor shuts itself off because…
Ian Cooper
9:20 am on Friday, March 22, 2013
I wish they would tax us so that they can maintain infrastructure properly (a 3 story high waterspout is evidence that they are not doing what's necessary), but they won't. Presumably I'm being held hostage by those who want something for nothing. As for eliminating one toilet flush per day, a 10% reduction in water usage is a bit more than that. As for me, I've done no laundry since the pipe … more ›