Water Lines

NOW THAT winter appears to actually be here, you may be getting daily -- and nightly -- reminders -- that you have leaky windows and doors. Or maybe you're still cold after the heater comes on, or maybe some uninvited critters have come inside to join you. Now is the time to take action, before the weather gets worse. Recently a reader from Baltimore wrote in and asked us to give a checklist for winterizing a house, so here it is:* Windows -- Caulk interior and exterior gaps to prevent air and water infiltration.

Fearing that the nearby Alpha Ridge Landfill eventually will contaminate their wells, Marriottsville residents last night began signing up for discounted connections to Howard County's water system."

A simple trip to the bathroom at Hazelwood Elementary-Middle School in Northeast Baltimore turned into a harrowing experience Tuesday for first-grader Ashley Moore.Scalding water and steam burst from the toilet after she flushed it, leaving her with second- and third-degree burns over the back of her body, from her shoulders to her ankles, according to police and her mother.Screaming and in tears, the 7-year-old ran from the bathroom and was taken to the nurse's office where her clothes were removed.

Baltimore County's infrastructure is crumbling: Alleys are deteriorating, sewers are blocked and water lines need cleaning. More than half the county's bridges have structural deficiencies -- making some off-limits to fire trucks. And about a third of the traffic signs and signals are rated in "poor or terrible" shape.County officials have budgeted millions to make repairs, but "there isn't enough money in the entire state of Maryland" to meet all the needs, says Public Works Director Charles R. Olsen.

A fire that officials believe was set in piles of old tires burned out an abandoned lumberyard building last night in East Baltimore as firefighters were hampered by low water pressure.Battalion Chief John Cole said firefighters arriving at the F. Bowie Smith Lumber Yard found flames spreading in the 1 1/2 -story building, which was about 150 by 75 feet in size.Smoke from the building, near Ponca and Lombard streets, northwest of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, billowed over the Harbor Tunnel ThruwayIt took 30 firefighters two hours to bring the blaze under control.

Safe Water Versus GolfWhat is the difference between a need and a luxury? In Howard County, it is a safe water supply versus a golf course.How can a responsible government conclude that Marriottsville residents must pay for water lines and hook-ups when their wells have been contaminated by a single county landfill which services all of Howard County, but the government will pay $6 million, more or less depending on amenities, for a golf course used by...

Whenever you work on an old house, one thing is certain: there will be surprises.Some surprises are pleasant -- like finding a perfect set of servants' bells in a boarded-up stairwell, or finding good wood floors under layers of carpet and tile. But some surprises are bound to be unpleasant -- like finding out you can't have a big family bath on the second floor and retain the elaborate molded ceiling in the living room below.In fact, plumbing is a major breeding ground for uncomfortable surprises.

Bill would let landfill neighbors tap into public water linesThe chairman of the County Council has introduced a bill that would allow several communities surrounding the Millersville Landfill to tap into public water lines.The communities now are in the "no service area," explained Mary Baldridge, aide to David G. Boschert, D-Crownsville. "All this bill does is move them up in the planning. Right now, they can't even apply" for water connection.The bill covers communities and homes located along Dicus Mill Road, Gambrills Road and Burns Crossing Road.

The talk of the state may be the proposed 78,600-seat football stadium in Laurel, but, for the residents of neighboring Bacontown, there are more important items on the agenda. Like water. And sewers.For nine years, leaders in the community of 16 houses and 14 trailers near the Laurel Race Course have been trying to hook up to public water and sewer lines, and get rid of the decrepit wells and septic systems they say are in constant need of repair.Sherry Williams of Arundel Community Development Services Inc. -- which contracts with the county to administer state and federal development grants -- came to Mount Zion United Methodist Church last week to deliver the good news.

Clarksville residents are expected to present opposing views to the Howard County Council tonight about the prospect of bring county water lines to the area.Some have contaminated wells and want the county to provide them with water and sewer service. Others say the well water isn't all that bad. They fear that county water and sewer service will lead to increased development, threatening their bucolic style of life."I understand and share their concerns about increased development," said the Rev. Jeffrey Dauses of St. Louis Roman Catholic Church.

A portion of downtown Baltimore affected by a massive water main break earlier this week may not be back to normal until at least Friday, city officials said. Several city agencies coordinated on tackling the gushing water main, which burst Tuesday morning at the intersection of Gay and Lombard streets around 6 a.m. and flooded several streets in the area. Six buildings in the area were closed Wednesday, including the Civil Division District Courthouse on Fayette Street, as they either had low water pressure, or no water at all. City leaders, including Mayor Sheila Dixon, blamed the break on the overall state of the city's water lines, which they described as aging and in constant need of repair.

Education officials, staff and parents at a northern Harford elementary school coping with contaminated wells are asking for a connection to nearby public water lines. Trace amounts of MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), a gasoline additive, were detected in the two private wells at Forest Hill Elementary School in 2005. By the spring of last year, tests showed the levels had risen to 13.6 parts per billion, a level still considered safe by federal standards, but one that prompted the school to use bottled water.

The Harford County Council voted 4-3 last night against a resolution that would extend public water lines to a Havre de Grace neighborhood. Wells at nine of the 84 homes in Glenn Heights community are contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE, a volatile organic compound. Lower levels of the industrial solvent were detected in about two dozen other wells, officials said. The Maryland Department of the Environment has installed filtration systems on the nine problematic wells and is monitoring the others periodically.

After a contentious debate, the Harford County Council has opted to delay until Nov. 13 a decision on whether to extend public water service to a Havre de Grace community where some homes' wells are contaminated. The delay will give officials time to get input from the county Health Department and the city of Aberdeen and search for additional funding to reduce the expense for residents of Glenn Heights, a community of 84 homes about a half-mile from U.S. 40. Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti, whose district includes Glenn Heights, has asked the Health Department for a "thorough assessment of the community's water supply and its impact on health and safety," according to a letter mailed to residents Wednesday.

The federal government will give $364,000 to the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Site to upgrade the entrance and parking facilities, Maryland's two U.S. senators announced yesterday. The money - to come from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration - will help relieve safety concerns about schoolchildren, pedestrians and tour groups walking amid rows of buses to enter the Fort McHenry visitor center, according to the senators' offices. The parking lot will be improved, and a study will begin to look at building a circular route for transit vehicles to enter the lot from Fort Avenue.

Six months after Taneytown shut down its most productive well, construction has begun on the installation of filters to remove a solvent that tested above the federal standard for drinking water. City officials hope to have Well No. 13 back in service by the end of next month -- although at half its capacity -- as car-washing and lawn-watering season begins to increase demand. The pump house first must almost double in size to accommodate the charcoal filters -- three 3,000-pound cylinders that each measure 6 feet tall by 4 feet in diameter -- said John V. Dillenburg, a retired senior vice president for ESAB who is working on the Taneytown project.

The pungent smell of chlorine bleach permeates the Hutchison home, a handsome four-bedroom split-level just outside Westminster. The Hutchisons, a family of four, struggle daily to conserve water. They fear their well will run dry. So they cook with bottled water. They wash their clothes at the public laundry. And they clean their kitchen with bleach rather than soap and water. "Water is a necessity of life. You can't flush the commode, cook a meal or bathe without it," said Alice Hutchison, 59. "Most people never give it a second thought.

A water main break yesterday morning left about 35 homes on Emerald Drive in the Merryman Heights subdivision of Eldersburg without water for most of the day. Work crews from the Carroll County Bureau of Utilities were on the scene before noon but couldn't begin digging until Miss Utility crews marked other utility lines, said Frank Schaeffer, bureau administrator. Schaeffer said that the break was routine and that he expected water service to be restored by late afternoon. He said residents might experience some air in their water lines and discoloration for a couple hours once repairs were complete.

In an early test of the principles laid out in Howard County's new general plan, a developer is proposing senior housing at the intersection of Marriottsville Road and Route 144 that, if approved, could result in the expansion of the county's public sewer and water area. Columbia-based Brantly Development Corp. has applied to build 143 senior housing units on 73 acres at the northeast corner of the Marriottsville juncture - 71 of them single-family detached homes and 72 attached homes with four units per building.

Carroll commissioners learned yesterday that they will have to rebid and limit the scope of a long-awaited project that would extend water lines to Maple Crest, a 30-year-old subdivision south of Westminster that has suffered water shortages for several years. To qualify for state funds for the $320,332 project, the commissioners were also told that the county would have to scrap plans to extend water lines to three streets in the neighborhood and focus its efforts on Wayne Avenue and Woodland Drive, which have the most severe water problems.