BALTIMORE, MD —The Baltimore City Department of Public Works is continuing to urge customers to let their faucets drip with a thin stream of water in order to prevent standing water in the pipes from freezing or re-freezing.

This piece of advice is especially important for water customers who’ve had their service restored due to frozen pipes or water meters. There have been reports of customer water lines re-freezing soon after DPW has restored water service.

“As an engineer with more than 30 years of experience, the best piece of advice to prevent frozen pipes and water meters is for customers to let their faucets drip to keep water moving through the pipes. A thin, steady stream of water is all it takes,” said DPW Director Rudolph S. Chow, P.E.

In addition, DPW is advising residents who do not have water to turn off all taps in the house for the safety of the property. When DPW crews restore water service, they often see water running inside a property and are concerned that this flow will flood the property.

DPW continues to work around-the-clock to clear the large volume of water-related customer service requests (CSRs) that have poured into the City’s 311 call system during recent weeks that have seen temperatures dip into the single digits.

Since February14, DPW has received 8,286 CSRs reporting no water, water in basement, and exterior water leaks. Currently, there are 3,777 CSRs that still need to be addressed by DPW.

Many of the CSR calls have been a result of customers’ water lines freezing due to the record cold temperatures. Follow-up calls to customers to confirm their status found that water was already back on for about 20 percent of those on the CSR list. Water service returned when customers’ frozen water lines thawed.

The City has teamed with Baltimore County to address outages among water customers in the County. Baltimore County has provided six crews to do investigations there, allowing Baltimore City DPW to focus its resources on City CSRs.

DPW is giving first priority to the oldest CSRs in the system and to situations where there is a risk of life or property damage, especially to sensitive facilities such as hospitals and schools. To allow DPW crews to work more efficiently, the CSRs are being sorted by geography, even within a zip code, so that crews do not have to drive so far to get to their next assignment.

“To our water customers who are still waiting for service to be restored, we know that you are bearing a heavy burden. I am committed to serving you and all of our customers with dignity,” Director Chow said.

Snow, Ice Hindered Trash/Recycling Pick-ups

In recent days, snow and ice have made it difficult for DPW’s Solid Waste crews to collect everyone’s trash and recycling, despite working extended hours.

Solid waste crews have had to navigate ice-covered alleys and climb over ice and snow to collect trash and recycling. These difficult conditions have contributed to the delayed collections.

DPW will continue to make all efforts to collect trash and recycling as scheduled; if a collection is missed, please hold it until the next collection day/date.
In addition, the snow and ice have contributed to street sweeping cancellations.

Keep the Faucets Flowing

DPW has been providing simple tips to keep water pipes from freezing, including: 

• Let a thin stream of cold water run from a basement faucet. The stream should be a continuous flow, about the thickness of a pencil lead. This water can be caught in a bucket and used later as laundry or dish water.
• If your pipe is frozen, gently warm it with hot air from a blow dryer at the point where it enters your house.
• Be sure you know the location of the water shutoff valve in your home. Check it periodically to ensure it works properly.
• Be sure to shut off water to outside faucets.
• Periodically monitor your sump pump. A frozen drain pipe could result in a flooded basement.
• Insulate pipes in unheated parts of your house. Be especially alert if you have had frozen pipes in the past.
• Always keep on hand a three- day supply of bottled water; one gallon per person per day.