DC Water now knows what caused parts of Wards 3 and 4 to lose water service or pressure on Friday, January 19th. And even the agency seems surprised.
DC Water’s investigation on Friday started with the usual causes, such as a significant leak somewhere in the system. None could be found. The lag time between the outage and the announcement of the cause grew unusually long.
Then, late Tuesday, DC Water spokesman John Lisle alerted us to an update: “DC Water’s investigation found that the loss of pressure on January 19 was a result of the [Washington] Aqueduct operating a valve on a bypass service line.”
“It was not the outcome that the Aqueduct or DC Water anticipated,” DC Water CEO and General Manager David L. Gadis said in the statement.
“[A]ctuating a bypass valve should not have had a detrimental impact on the system,” Gadis said, “and we will continue to work with the Aqueduct to investigate exactly why that occurred and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
That means working with the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the Washington Aqueduct and sells its water to DC Water for distribution through the District’s 1,300 miles of pipes.
DC Water restored service in Wards 3 and 4 on Friday by pumping water from another part of the system. And on Saturday, January 20th, the Aquifer reopened the bypass valve, allowing DC Water to resume normal operations.