Editor’s note: This story was originally published at 11:18 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2025. It was updated at 4:25 p.m. on Jan. 7, 2025, to add information about the cause of the water main break.
A section of northbound Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda has reopened after the repair of a large water main break that occurred Monday, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC Water) reported Tuesday morning.
WSSC Water posted around 1:35 a.m. Tuesday on social media the repair was complete, and water was being restored to customers in the area. The utility company also said the worksite on Wisconsin Avenue was temporarily covered with steel plates to allow other utilities to check their lines before the utility closes the site.
All lanes had reopened and no work was currently occurring, the utility said Tuesday morning in an email to Bethesda Today.
Monday’s water main break caused the closure of northbound Wisconsin Avenue (MD Route 355) at Elm and Waverly streets, Montgomery County police said Monday in a social media post.
The water main break at 7235 Wisconsin Ave. occurred around 10 a.m. Monday and water service was shut off around 11:30 a.m., WSSC Water spokesperson Lyn Riggins said Monday night in an email to Bethesda Today.
The break came as the region grappled with its first big winter storm of the new year and left about 1,000 residents in a large multifamily apartment building without water, Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard said in a Monday news briefing.
Riggins said the break directly impacted residents at The Elm, a luxury apartment complex at 4710 Elm St., noting the utility delivered water to the apartment building.
In addition to the apartment building, six businesses were impacted by the break as well, Riggins said. The names of the businesses were not provided.
The cause of the water main break remains unknown although aging infrastructure was a factor, Riggins said. The pipe that broke was originally installed in 1932 and was about 93 years old, she noted.
“WSSC Water experiences more than 1,700 water main breaks and leaks in a given year. Approximately 65% … about 1,100 occur during the four busy winter months, November – February,” she said.
Riggins also said that approximately 40% of the water mains in the WSSC Water system more than 50 years old.
WSSC Water crews began digging to find the broken pipe around 7:30 p.m. Monday, according to Riggins. As repairs and work was underway, the utility company provided updates via social media.
“There are a lot of other utilities in the area of our pipe. Much of the day was spent ensuring those utilities were properly marked by Miss Utility to ensure the safety of everyone once we started to dig,” Riggins said in the email.
Miss Utility is a “one-call notification center that notifies subscribing underground facility owner members about proposed excavation plans,” according to the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration.
Minutes after the break occurred Monday morning, Fox 5 DC posted a video from the station’s Wisconsin Avenue office showing the water main break. The video shows muddy water flowing along the snowy street and into the open doors of a CVS store.
