SPARKS, Md. — Taking a walk and getting some fresh air seemed like a good idea for Eleanor Blair who is caring for her three-month-old twin grandchildren, Hadley and Hudson, without a reliable supply of water.
“They drink formula and so all of the water, I had to empty,” said Blair. “We use a Baby Brezza that makes their bottles. I had to empty everything out, and then, fortunately, I had bottles of water that I could begin to fill up.”
The city and county began handing out cases of water to families from Sparks, Broadmead, Hunt Valley and Cockeysville with a precautionary boil water advisory in effect after a 20-inch main ruptured along York Road.
RELATED: Crews have repaired the broken water main on York Road but a boil advisory remains in effect
While residents can bathe in water as it’s restored, they are asked to boil water before drinking it, preparing baby food and formula and even brushing their teeth.
Baltimore County keeps a reserve of water in the tower in Sparks, and we’re told it holds a million gallons.
But when crews shut off the broken main, people began using up that stock at a rate of a 100,000 gallons per hour prompting the advisory.
DPW has repaired the water main break. They've also flushed and restored water to the system.
Boiling water and distributing bottles will continue through Thursday as they test and recharge the system.
DPW will conduct water sampling at several sites in the impacted areas. Upon successful completion of the sampling and analysis, the boil water advisory will be lifted.
“The pipe is about 50 years old and it’s a unique material,” said City Public Works Division Chief Tim Wolfe, “It’s prestressed concrete cylinder pipe, and pipes fail as they age.”
While no E. coli or bacteria has been discovered thus far, public works isn’t about to lift the precautions just yet, and Blair wouldn’t want them to.
“We can’t have them getting sick,” said Blair, “They’re still… I mean she only weighs 12 pounds and he weighs 14. So yea, we can’t have them getting sick with anything that would be water-borne.”
DPW anticipates having sampling results by Friday evening, if not sooner.
As for that portion of York Road that had been closed off to traffic, it has been reopened.
Water is still being distributed for those in the affected areas.
