Baltimore Residents Remain Crippled By Water Main Breaks, Aging Infrastructure
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- People in one Baltimore neighborhood have gone more than two weeks without running water and Tuesday one woman said she's having to get water from other people in the area.
For weeks, residents in the 400 block of East Federal street have gone without water.
Kathy Barksdale said she hasn't had running water since January 6. DPW crews actually went out and fixed one problem, only to find out there was another one.
"I have the spickets open, and i don't hear any water running through the spickets," Barksdale said.
Barksdale wanted just one thing when she got home from work Tuesday; running water.
"That was on, no water," she said.
DPW said at one point about 25 houses on the street were affected.
"It's been really hard. I'm learning it's a real necessity. It's really a hassle trying to get water," Barksdale said. "I pay some of the neighbors to let me get water from them because the houses across the street from me have water."
The department's online tracking system has a check mark in the 400 block of East Federal Street, which indicates water has been restored.
DPW says workers fixed a main water main break, only to find out days later, there was another problem in an alley.
DPW has been overrun with hundreds of reports of water outages. Breaks across the city forced crews to work mandatory 12-hour shifts.
And to complicate matters, the department said the line that runs under the 400 block of Federal Street has been repaired multiple times before. A sign of the aging infrastructure.
The department says restoring service is a priority. Some people on the block have water.
[REPORTER: So the break never affected you?]
"No it didn't, because whatever it is, is not in this area," one resident said.
But for others, it's two weeks and counting.
"I am going to clap. I am going to clap and say thank you God," Barksdale said. "Yes I am."
Tuesday night Barksdale said city workers gave her three cases of water.
DPW said they had about 130 breaks and they believe that number is down to about 30.
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