Water Main Break Causes Problems In Perry Hall

PERRY HALL, Md. (WJZ) -- Dozens of businesses in the Perry Hall area remain without water Tuesday night after a major water main break on Joppa Road.

Derek Valcourt has details on how it happened and the problems it's causing.

For starters, this normally busy section of Joppa Road--about two blocks long--is closed to all traffic and the faucets on all the businesses in between are completely dry.

Inside Nottingham Dental Care, there's no running water at all, which means an empty waiting room and no patients.

"Without the water, we can't run the equipment so we have to reschedule all afternoon patients. So it's quite a big inconvenience for my staff, myself, all the patients who took off work to come in," said Dr. Dimitrios Garefalakis.

The problems all stem from a hole in the ground caused by a break in a 12-inch pipe running under Joppa Road. Officials say that break occurred Monday night as crews did some scheduled work at the Towson Reservoir.

"Some valves were being opened and closed, maneuvered and that caused a pressure surge in the line, which we believe caused this and also sent a surge to a pumping station," said Kurt Kocher, Department of Public Works.

The effects on the pumping station caused a widespread water outage Monday night. It's now repaired but the broken pipe under Joppa Road remains a problem that forced some businesses--like optometrist Mary Ellen Padusi--to close up shop early Tuesday.

"Patients need to be able to wash their hands, to take out contact lenses; I need to be able to wash my hands before I touch people's eyes, so it does make it a little bit difficult," Padusi said. "And the fact that you have no restrooms for yourself or your patients to use."

At nearby Roula's Salon and Spa, regular shampoos are, for now, out of the question.

"We're making the best of it. We could have closed but some of the clients are willing to come in and just deal with it and not be as pampered as they normally are, so they're being great and we thank them. There's not much we can do," said Roula Strumpis.

Crews will be working throughout the night, hoping water can be back up and running Wednesday. Once that happens, the county will have to come in and repair damage to the road. For now, traffic is being re-routed around the stretch of Joppa Road just off Belair Road.

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