Cold Does A Number On More Area Pipes

Break at Archives Station; Pr. George's Boil Order Lifted

A boil-water order that followed a series of water main breaks was lifted yesterday for about 90,000 homes and businesses in Prince George' s County, even as freezing temperatures caused dozens of other pipes across the region to rupture or leak.

Repair crews in the District delayed until this morning repairs to a 12-inch pipe that broke under the Archives-Navy Memorial Metro station before yesterday's inaugural parade so that they would not disrupt the procession. Officials with the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority said only a Starbucks and the bathrooms at the station, which were closed to the public, were without water.

In Bethesda, emergency crews fixed another 12-inch pipe yesterday that broke late Monday on the eastbound side of Old Georgetown Road. All lanes on Kenilworth Avenue at Carter's Lane in Prince George's County were closed until early yesterday, while crews replaced another pipe that burst Monday night.

Two mains that broke yesterday shortly after noon in Fairfax County had the potential to cause massive traffic disruptions in the eastern part of the county. Both were temporarily patched by midafternoon, in time for the expected rush of people heading out of Washington.

They were the largest of more than 100 ruptures and leaks to aging water pipes in the Washington region in the past few days.

On Dec. 23, a mammoth break stranded commuters along River Road, a major artery through Montgomery County. The 5 1/2 -foot main was discovered to have deep cracks and flaws. The ruptures yesterday occurred in relatively small pipes, but they renewed concerns over the fragility of thousands of others.

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission replaces about 25 miles of pipe a year. In February, representatives from Montgomery and Prince George's counties who make up the sanitary commission decided not to assess an additional fee of $20 a month that had been proposed to fund more pipe replacement.

Water system authorities said yesterday that the culprit for the most recent breaks is familiar: The temperatures of the past week have fluctuated between the 20s and 30s, weakening an aging infrastructure.

"This is our mean season for breaks," said Mike McGill, a spokesman for the WSSC, the utility serving 1.8 million customers in Montgomery and Prince George's.

The WSSC lifted a boil-water advisory to 90,000 homes and businesses in Temple Hills, where a 42-inch main ruptured Saturday. Service was restored the next day, but customers, including restaurants in the Gaylord National Resort at National Harbor, had been advised to boil tap water through last night while until it could be tested for bacteria. The advisory was lifted by midday yesterday, ensuring that inauguration celebrations planned at the resort could continue without complications.

The WSSC counted 93 burst pipes and 19 leaks to aging water pipes that have snarled traffic and caused minor water outages across both counties in recent days, and about 25 pipes were broken in the District yesterday, officials said.

In Fairfax, a main erupted at Huntington Avenue and Fifer Drive near the Huntington Metro station, just south of Alexandria. Police made Huntington Avenue one lane in both directions, county spokesman Jim Person said, but the break had been temporarily repaired by 2:20 p.m., and Huntington Avenue was fully opened in time for the crowds returning from inaugural events.

The second break occurred about 1 p.m. about a mile farther south, near Collard Street and Route 1 (Richmond Highway) in the Groveton area. The water from that break caused police to close two of the three southbound lanes of Route 1 in the vicinity of the incident.

The broken pipe was repaired by 3 p.m., but the asphalt was badly damaged, Person said. The two lanes remained closed yesterday, and Virginia State Police warned motorists that backups of a mile or more could result on the southbound side of the highway. Person said residents could experience some loss of water pressure, but no outages were expected.

Fairfax activated its emergency operations center for the day, and was aware of only two water main breaks in the county. A spokeswoman for Fairfax Water, which provides water for much of Northern Virginia, could not be reached yesterday.