At 4:47 a.m. on Monday, October 23, an alarm alerted Facilities Management (FM) staff to a drop in water pressure at two campus buildings. That alarm was the first signal of a major water main break that would impact more than 60 buildings.
Navigating the Early Response
Within thirty minutes of the alarm, FM’s Incident Response Unit arrived at the scene of what resembled a lake forming along Preinkert Drive with water rushing downhill toward South Campus Commons. Water was bubbling up from several locations on the grass, sidewalk, and roadway. It was obvious that this was a major break.
The break was uncovered beneath Preinkert Drive in a ten-inch pipe. The water main had failed through a combined longitudinal crack, or a crack that runs down the length of the pipe, paired with a radial crack, or a crack that runs around the circumference of the pipe. One side of the failed pipe settled and dropped down a few inches, creating a significant opening to allow a large amount of pressurized domestic water to be released.
“Water mains often fail with changes in temperature as the soil settles, expands, and contracts,” said Rob Hermstein incident commander and FM’s Deputy Director of Operations, Maintenance & Utilities. “We can also see water main breaks when the soil around the water main is disturbed adding points of stress to the piping that can lead to failures.”
Roads were closed, key stakeholders were notified and crews worked throughout the day to replace the section of pipe that had given way to time, rust, and shifting soils.
The Impact
More than 60 buildings were impacted with low or no water pressure, as crews worked to make repairs – a higher-than-expected number due to Purple Line construction along Campus Drive. At least 26 dorms and all South Campus Commons apartments, along with 21 university buildings, including Van Munching Hall and McKeldin Library, lost water supply.
FM’s Piped Services closed approximately 18 valves to achieve isolation and shutdown of the leak, which took approximately 9 hours. It took another 5 hours to repair the break and to get water restored, for a total of 16-hour outage. Even when repairs were completed, restoration of water service to each building was not immediate. After a shutdown, waterlines need to be flushed for safety and efficiency. Service was restored to some locations Monday afternoon with full restoration by Tuesday morning.
Preparing for Future Breaks
UMD's water distribution system is extensive with sections of both new and older piping. Aged piping is replaced as needed and projects are planned to replace multiple campus water mains in the near future. Metrics help determine when to replace a water main, including age, number of failures, and flow rates from fire hydrants.
In response to this recent break, FM is purchasing additional water pressure monitors that will help reduce response time when breaks occur as well as identify more quickly which buildings are impacted.
Depending on the year, UMD usually experiences between 10 to 20 underground water main breaks. The October 23 break was the twelfth break in calendar year 2023.
Read more about how the Incident Response Unit responds to campus emergencies.