The Post today has a story about the major reduction in water main breaks this year. The Post attributes the reduced number of breaks in major area water systems including Montgomery County to the mild weather. This makes sense since deep freezes tend to make the ground shift in various ways as water in the soil freezes and expands the earth. This clearly can push against pipes causing breaks. I am going to check to see if the same trend is affecting Poolesville.
The same story however had another ominous point. The number of breaks on average has been increasing in recent years. This may well be due to the aging of the systems and the lack of modernization. Major studies – such as one a year ago by the American Civil Engineering Society – has rated the public infrastructure of the U.S. including water, sewer and road systems. The survey found that most of our nation’s infrastructure is in poor condition due primarily to the lack of continued investment in upgrades and maintenance. The collapse of the bridge in Minnesota a couple of years back is only the most obvious example.
Poolesville’s water system is generally in good shape. The Town has invested substantially to keep it running well including upgrades to monitoring systems and improvements in various wells in terms of pumps and filters designed to ensure better water. While maintenance and investments in infrastructure can be dull in terms of budgeting and don’t often reward politicians (because something that does not break due to good maintenance never is not noticed and politicians are not given credit for it), it is crucial to keep up with infrastructure maintenance. We still have work to do on our infrastructure, especially our sewer pipes which have been upgraded in many ways but continue to have pockets of problems. But in general, the Town does a good job of infrastructure maintenance including the roads and sidewalks.
