Age, Weather Cause Four Water Main Breaks

Freezing temperatures and aging infrastructure are to blame for a rash of water main breaks in Annapolis—four in the last eight days alone, city officials said.

Thursday afternoon, part of Poplar Avenue was blocked as workers repaired a break. Since Jan. 26, other water main breaks have occurred on , Duke of Gloucester Street and North Linden Avenue. 

Phill McGowan, public information officer for the city of Annapolis said on Wednesday following the instance on Linden Avenue, "This is not a surprise. The pipes are very old pipes," adding that the city had water main issues last year as well.

McGowan said that much of the city's infrastructure and piping is "50, 60, 70 years-old and older."

He explained that the older pipes are more susceptible to breaking, particularly during this time of the year, when freezing temperatures not only cause the pipes to expand and contract but also result in the shifting of the ground.

According to McGowan, until the city is able to overhaul the water system and infrastructure, it has factored in both the manpower and money for these repairs.

McGowan said there has been discussion about the city's water plant, adding that the mayor has been looking at the city's fee structure across the board. He added that city officials are also "doing our due diligence to look at infrastructure."

In a meeting of the city council's Economic Matters Committee Thursday night, as residents came out to testify in part two of a public hearing on the proposed , one resident brought up the two most recent water main breaks, citing another reason why the city should not commit to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the building.

Alderman Fred Paone (R-Ward 2) serves the ward where the two most recent water main breaks occured. He said surprisingly he didn't hear complaints from constituents, but attributes this to the fact that the breaks occured during the middle of the day.

"It does kind of go to show you that the city has lots of other problems and frankly bigger problems than the Market House," Paone said.

According to city records, prior to the four most recent instances, city officials responded to the following recently.

"This is not a unique challenge to Annapolis," McGowan said.

Research and recent news reports support the idea.

According to a recent CNN report, which looked at the nation's aging water infrastructure, experts said more than 700 water main breaks occur throughout the country each day. According to the CNN report, the American society of Civil Engineer's rated the nation's drinking system a D minus.