Water

We are living in an historic era ("Re-elected," Nov. 7). We have read about the fall of other once great civilizations like the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians. Now, we actually get to live it. We will see America, a once great country, become a government-controlled, third world socialist state. No shots will be fired, no army will invade. It will all happen from within. Unemployment, health care costs, and entitlement living will all increase. Civil unrest, demonstrations, and riots will be widespread.

A break in a 12-inch water main flooded three lanes of the Beltway's Outer Loop near Wilkens Avenue on Tuesday and affected traffic throughout the evening rush hour, according to the State Highway Administration and city Department of Public Works. The break happened about 1:25 p.m. on Shelbourne Road, according to public works spokesman Kurt Kocher, and the lanes on that street were closed down. Public works officials set up a temporary command center. Kocher said water was shut off at the site.

The Pale Knight arrived ready to plunge. Inspired by last year's Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises," Patrick Fink of Baltimore showed up at Saturday's 17th annual Polar Bear Plunge clad in a bat mask, long cape and briefs that exposed much of his pasty skin to the chill air. He even had his chest hair shorn in the shape of the Batman logo. It was the seventh time the 27-year-old from Baltimore had traveled to Sandy Point State Park for a midwinter dip in the frigid Chesapeake Bay. He said he keeps returning because the yearly event raises money for Special Olympics Maryland, "a charity I love supporting.

HAS GEOLOGY ever been more inspiring? Suddenly, a handful of rocks can fire the imagination. It helps, of course, that the rocks in question come from a crater on Mars. Maybe you missed the news, but in an article published Friday, government scientists say rocks examined by NASA's Mars rovers are sedimentary. That means they accumulated layer by layer in water. That's right, water. Good old two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. The rocks prove beyond a doubt that the red planet used to have water like Earth has water -- and not just the frozen stuff, but in liquid form, too. The authors aren't certain how the water got there, but they suspect it was present hundreds of thousands of years ago. It might have covered tens of thousands of square miles.

Fort Garrison Elementary School, located at 3310 Woodvalley Drive in Pikesville, is closing at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1 due to a water main break.

When millions of gallons of water erupted in mid-September from a ruptured 72-inch water main flooding dozens of Dundalk homes, Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith got help quickly from state and local officials all over Central Maryland. "You need everybody in these situations," he said Tuesday, standing between large utility vehicles in a Howard County public works yard with county executives Ken Ulman, Anne Arundel's John R. Leopold, and Harford's David Craig. With a written agreement among the four county executives who represent about a quarter of Maryland's population, help will be automatic and fast when water or wastewater pipes fail.

A temporary repair has been made to a 20-inch water main in Catonsville that had caused officials to ask residents in the affected area to conserve water until the broken line was fixed. The repair has allowed the Catonsville Pumping Station to function at normal levels, city officials said Sunday. A permant repair to the main, which broke Saturday night, has will be scheduled and residents will be notified. The call for conservation has been lifted in the following zip codes: 21043; 21207; 21228; and 21244.

The John R. Hargrove Sr. building of Baltimore's district court closed shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday because of a nearby water main break that left the facility without water. It's unclear when the building,  on the 700 block of E. Patapsco Ave.,  will reopen and resume hearing cases. Bail reviews were transferred to the Borgerding district court location at 5800 Wabash Ave, and other cases were postponed, said judiciary spokeswoman Terri Bolling. The water main break occurred on the 3600 block of Brooklyn Ave., Bolling said.

A troublesome 12-inch water main in Essex that broke Thursday at Back River Neck Road has been repaired and running water has been restored to the a small number of Essex residents and businesses who lost it, according to Baltimore public works officials. The main has broken several times since October, city and county officials said. Now, leaks in a sewer line below the water main that must be repaired before the road can be repaved, said county Public Works spokesman David Fidler.

An electrical failure Thursday morning at a pumping station on South North Point Road in eastern Baltimore County was repaired by 3:30 p.m., restoring water to about 8,000 city and county residents. The area that was affected extends north to East Baltimore Street in the city, east to Merritt Boulevard, south to Delvale Avenue and west to Interstate 95 in the county. mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts