Monday, April 15, 2013
Montgomery County Council's Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee reviews the request on Monday morning.
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission is proposing a 7.25 percent rate increase for water and sewer use in Montgomery County, according to a news release from the county council's office. On Monday, April 15, at 9:30 a.m., the Montgomery County Council's Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee, chaired by Councilmember Roger Berliner, will review WSSC's operating budget request. Councilmembers Nancy Floreen and Hans Riemer are also on the committee. The budget request comes as an investigation examines the cause of a massive water main break on Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase on March 18. Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission engineers still do not know what caused the break, but they say that the fiber …
Thursday, April 11, 2013
The street was closed off Thursday afternoon.
Dennis Avenue between Inwood Avenue and Julep Avenue in Silver Spring was closed off Thursday afternoon after a water main break. A Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission spokesperson said that the 12-inch water main was shut down at 1:15 p.m., affecting 43 people. Crews are working to repair it, and water service should be restored by 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. After repairs are made to the road, Dennis Avenue should reopen sometime overnight. Thank you to Patch readers Danilo Antezana and Jennifer Sullivan for sending in photos! If you see something newsworthy around town, send it to the Wheaton Patch editor at esther.french@patch.com.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
The fiber optic monitoring system meant to warn WSSC of impending breaks in the water main did not fail, WSSC engineers said, Bethesda Now reported.
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission engineers still do not know what caused the massive water main break on March 18 at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Chevy Chase Lake Drive, but they say that the fiber optic monitoring system installed in the pipes in 2010 did not fail, Bethesda Now reported. But what use is a monitoring system that works, but fails to warn you that a break is coming? That was a key question WSSC engineers faced at a Monday morning meeting of the Montgomery County Council’s Transportation and Environment Committee. WSSC chief engineer Gary Gumm said that the design of the pipe segment that broke "affects 700 to 800 other pieces of pipe throughout Montgomery and Prince George’s counties," The Washington …
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-…
Friday, March 22, 2013
WSSC hopes to have the repaired line back in service by the end of the weekend.
Repairs to the 60-inch-in-diameter water main that burst Monday night on Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase are nearly complete. A new pipe section was put in place Thursday, and the grout in the pipe joints cured overnight. Early Friday morning, Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission crews "slowly opened a valve to begin filling the isolated stretch of pipe," according to a statement on the WSSC website. On Friday, WSSC crews were slated to "[flush] the repaired line during the day, which is part of the standard decontamination process to ensure water quality, before putting the transmission main back into service," the statement said. The Acoustic Fiber Optic monitoring system was re-installed yesterday, The Washington Post reported. …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Water restrictions are in place in Montgomery and Prince George's counties until repairs to the Chevy Chase Lake water main are complete, which could take several days.
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission crews on Wednesday continued to repair the 60-inch water main on Connecticut Avenue near Chevy Chase Lake Drive that burst at around 8 p.m. on Monday, sending about 60 million gallons of water gushing 100 feet into the air. [Watch video from the scene.] Wednesday's work involved removing a 20-foot section of the pipe and replacing it with a new section. After that, it will take several more days to complete the work, according to a WSSC news statement. Northbound traffic on Connecticut Avenue still was reduced to just one lane between Chevy Chase Lake Drive and Manor Road on Wednesay. Mandatory water restrictions continued for Montgomery and Prince George's counties on Wednesday to ensure adequate …
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
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 …
Monday, January 14, 2013
The utility will outline its Sewer Repair, Replacement and Rehabilitation program at a Jan. 15 meeting in Wheaton.
Streams in Wheaton will be undergoing a bit of surgery in coming months courtesy of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. Want to learn about what WSSC crews will be doing as they work on sewer pipes and manholes in the Northwest Branch? WSSC representatives will outline the utility’s Sewer Repair, Replacement and Rehabilitation (also known as SR3) program at a meeting from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Wheaton Library, 11701 Georgia Avenue. Click here to track SR3 work in your neighborhood. The SR3 program is part of a 12-year effort by WSSC to minimize—and where possible, to eliminate—sanitary sewer overflows in which untreated or partially treated wastewater discharges from a sewer system into the surrounding areas. Click here to …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Del. Tom Hucker is sponsoring a series of bills aimed at regulating the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission's handling of sewage leaks and water testing.
Sewage leaks are an all-too-frequent problem in Montgomery County, according to Del. Tom Hucker, a Democrat who represents Takoma Park and Silver Spring in the Maryland General Assembly. How quickly they are cleaned up and whether everyday citizens know to avoid the areas where they occur is a major public health issue, he said. Hucker drafted two bills aimed at requiring Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission to notify elected officials and residents of leaks. The utility regulates both ends of the water supply—drinking water and sewage—for customers in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties. "We want to give WSSC the strongest incentive possible to address sewage leaks in a very timely fashion to protect public health," Hucker told …
Monday, October 8, 2012
Planning Board schedule, zoning amendment and study into top county salaries top Oct. 9 agenda.
The Montgomery County Council gets back to work Tuesday after a two-week break, taking on an amendment to the Commercial/Residential Zone, a study of salaries for councilmembers, the county executive, sheriff and state's attorney, and its twice-annual meeting on the County Planning Board's work schedule. DECISION ITEMS INTRODUCTIONS HEARINGS The council will also have its twice-annual meetings with the Montgomery Business Development Corporation and the County Planning Board. The Planning Board meeting will update the council on the study for a countywide rapid-bus network and on the revision of the county's zoning ordinance, which is on track to present to the council for approval in December. The Planning Board will also hash over its …
Costco Gas Man
5:44 pm on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
When the governing authorities see that the sheeple in Maryland don't care about higher taxes, the people should not complain when PEPCO and WSSC and Washington Gas realize they better get their share now before the people wake up. more ›