Water Tests Continue In Prince George's

Tens of thousands of people in central Prince George's County homes, schools and businesses remained under a boiled water advisory yesterday as the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission worked to determine whether nearby construction or aging pipes caused the break in a water main Saturday.

Tests on water samples taken from the 39-square-mile area affected by the break came back negative for contamination. If a second round of tests shows no contamination today, the advisory will be lifted, commission spokesman Mike McGill said.

Meanwhile, 16 schools in the affected area scurried to procure bottled water for their students. The county jail also brought in bottles for its inmates. Signs at the county administration building in Upper Marlboro urged employees to boil their water at home and bring it to work. The break on Central Avenue near Capital Beltway also affected the county courthouse; school board headquarters; the Boulevard at Capital Centre shopping center; several strip malls; at least three senior citizen homes; and a hospital, officials said.

"They instructed us that if we were going to use the water, we had to boil it," said Carla Bowens, a family consumer sciences teacher at Largo High School. "We were going to make cookies today, but I just suspended my lab. I just didn't want to take any risks with the students, and it's too dangerous and time-consuming to boil all that water."

Hundreds of cases of water were delivered for students, cafeteria workers boiled water for food preparation and water fountains were cordoned off and signs posted warning students and staff to refrain from using them, schools spokesman John White said.

At the jail, "we brought in 3,000 bottles of water to take care of the inmates, then we'll get more if we need it," said Vernon Herron, the county's director of public safety.

The water-main break occurred as commission officials grapple with what they consider the system's failing infrastructure. The boil order was the second in the agency's 90-year history. The first came in June, when much of northern Montgomery County was left boiling water for days after a 48-inch water main broke.

Last year, the commission saw a record number of water-main breaks: 2,129. So far this year, 1,133 breaks have been reported, McGill said. He said that 50 percent of the system's pipes "will reach or exceed their useful life by 2025." Because of Prince George's County's highly acidic soil, some pipes installed in the 1960s and 1970s are already showing signs of marked deterioration, he said.

Michelle Quander-Collins, spokeswoman for the District's Washington Area Sanitary Authority, which reported 343 water-main breaks in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, said an aging system is a concern there as well. During the next decade, the authority will spend $500 million for water infrastructure improvements. "We've got 1,300 miles of water pipeline through the District, and the median age is 74 years," she said. "We even have some pipeline that is over 100 years old. . . . One line on M Street was installed in 1859."

The Fairfax County Water Authority recorded more than 240 water-main breaks, which is below the annual average for the past seven years, a spokesman said.

In Maryland, then-General Manager Andrew D. Brunhart declared the commission system "dysfunctional" in January. A proposal to raise rates and impose a $20 fee to fund infrastructure improvements was voted down by the commission after a public outcry, officials said. McGill said a committee of representatives from Prince George's and Montgomery counties is looking at ways to pay for improving infrastructure. A recording at the commission complex in Laurel told callers that half of the system's infrastructure will reach the end of its effectiveness by 2025 and encouraged community groups to contact the agency to schedule a meeting to learn more about the aging infrastructure.

Saturday's break occurred at the site of a construction project to erect two traffic lights on Central Avenue at the Capital Beltway, McGill said, meaning that construction work could have contributed to the problem. The break reduced water pressure across a large swath of Prince George's, a situation that could allow contaminants to enter the pipes. "In this case, we had a significant loss of pressure for an extended period of time over a large area and that's why the determination was made to put out the advisory," McGill said.

The approximate borders of the affected area are Church Road to the east, the Capital Beltway to the west, Ritchie Marlboro Road to the south and Route 50 to the north. Officials estimated that it will cost as much as $40,000 to repair the damage.

Meanwhile, Prince George's residents boiled their water and tried to make the best of an uncertain situation.

"I didn't see any discoloration in my water, but my sister did," said Elaine Murrell of Mitchellville. "I didn't know, except the toilets wouldn't refill after they were flushed and I had low water pressure. Later in the afternoon, my brother called and told me. I found out a lot of people didn't know."

Staff writer Ian Shapira contributed to this report.