Water Line Repair in Olney, MD

Olney conditions

Olney was mostly farmland until the 1960s, and its median home was built in 1986, so much of the town's housing has service lines that are roughly 40 years old. The core of Olney is on WSSC Water, and the Patuxent reservoirs that supply part of WSSC's system border the north side of the area. Public water was extended to Mt. Zion to relieve well problems there, and some outlying properties sit outside the planned sewer area, so the setup on the rural edges can differ from the subdivisions near the town center.

WSSC says part of each water service line is utility-owned and part is customer-owned, and it asks customers planning to replace their own portion to let it know. Repairs and replacements of water and sewer service lines go through WSSC's permit system and are done by a plumber registered with WSSC Water.

Repair or replace?

Signs to watch for

• A patch of lawn along the line that stays green and spongy through dry spells
• Water seeping in at the foundation where the pipe enters
• A WSSC bill that keeps creeping up
• Sputtering faucets or cloudy water after the line is shut off and refilled
• The meter moving while everything inside is closed

Seasonal timing

Cold snaps are hard on the section of pipe that rises into the basement and on any line running through an unheated garage or crawlspace. A small weep found in late fall is worth fixing before the ground freezes, since frozen soil slows excavation and a weakened joint can let go during a deep cold spell. Spring irrigation start-up is the other common time to discover a leak; if your system has a testable backflow assembly, WSSC requires it to be tested each year at start-up, and that visit is a good moment to have the supply side checked too.