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WJZ Investigates Md.'s Crumbling Infrastructure
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A ticking time bomb could be under your street. On average, at least one water main breaks every day in the Baltimore region.
Adam May exposes the growing problem that's putting water customers in danger.
Nearly killing drivers and costing homeowners millions, water main breaks are happening at an alarming rate. There have been more than 5,000 breaks in the Baltimore area since 2000.
In Timonium, one line at York Road has snapped several times. In April, a 100-year-old pipe ruptured, flooding downtown Baltimore. Another break shut down Amtrak service in Halethorpe.
The worst break in recent history happened last week in Dundalk when a pipe, with a known design defect, ruptured, leaving 100 homes under water.
"It blew the metal panel off the door, and flung this door open," said Carl Persiani, flood victim.
Persiani lost everything in his finished basement, and like many of his neighbors, his insurance company won't cover the losses. But he's not only upset with his adjuster.
"I blame the government," said Persiani. "They should have told this community about this situation, so at least we would have the proper coverage they say we're supposed to have."
Since the infrastructure keeps failing, some wonder if the local government should encourage homeowners to get flood insurance, even if they don't live in flood-prone areas.
"Well, we say we don't know where breaks will occur," said David Scott, Baltimore's director of Public Works.
Scott calls it a crisis guaranteed to affect some customers in Baltimore City and Baltimore County served by 3,400 miles of water mains.
"Most of those were built when the city was built, so you're going to see many more of these occur over the next couple of years," said Scott.
Baltimore City requested $700 million in stimulus money for water projects, but they only received $12 million.
"That money should have went to those pipes and roadways. This is ridiculous. The stimulus money should have been used properly," said Persiani.
Outraged neighbors agree.
"Apparently, I don't have enough money. The banks broke, they bailed them out," said John Whitsell, flood victim.
"Didn't the government just give the insurance companies $700 billion? How do I get my money? The insurance companies have it, they ain't passing it out to people," said Scott Kidwell, flood victim.
Governor Martin O'Malley is defending the stimulus allocation.
"None of the things provided for shovel ready projects was meant to address what has been a 30-year failure to invest in our infrastructure," said Governor O'Malley.
Instead, Maryland Senator Ben Cardin is calling for more federal funding for water mains.
Senator Cardin has illustrated his case in Congress with exclusive pictures of the Dundalk damage shot by WJZ and Sky Eye Chopper 13.
"This is a bipartisan effort as it should be, to improve America's infrastructure," said Senator Cardin.
But with a soaring national deficit, spending more has become highly political, especially for big ticket projects.
The city would need $2 billion to fix all the water mains. Experts say without help from the federal government the city can't afford it.
"Our ratepayers can't afford to pay that kind of money," said Scott.
Ratepayers say they also can't afford the government's in-action.
"They're just going to wait for pipes to keep bursting and the next community down the road has to deal with this. Good luck, good luck," said Anita Krammer, flood victim.
In addition to all of the drinking water flowing through our system, Baltimore City also treats about 250 million gallons of wastewater daily from 1.6 million people in the metropolitan area.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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