On Monday, October 30 representatives from WSSC Water (WSSC) updated the Greenbelt City Council on the Standpipe Rehabilitation Project expected to start next year. Councilmembers and nearby residents felt “blindsided,” in the words of Mayor Emmett Jordan earlier this year, when they learned that WSSC had purchased the house closest to the standpipe (water tower) at the corner of Ridge Road and Lastner Lane.
241 Lastner
The utility has purchased this property and will demolish the house, shed and retaining wall. Project Manager Christopher DeHerde said that details on the demolition will not be known until WSSC has engaged a contractor, but he expects that to occur early in the construction phase.
WSSC will construct a new access drive using the former house’s driveway.
DeHerde said that he did not think any trees would be removed from the property although the shrubs and other vegetation will be. Later in the meeting, however, nearby homeowner Thomas Zeller told council that on July 21, a WSSC contractor entered the property and cut down some mature trees. Zeller also wanted to know if the house contained lead paint and if so, how WSSC planned to protect nearby residents during demolition.
Scope and Schedule
The work will include structural improvements, including structural steel upgrades, foundation repairs and upgrades to railings and ladders in compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. In addition, the interior and exterior will undergo abrasive blasting to remove the old paint. A new epoxy-based coating will be applied to protect against corrosion. WSSC will also install a six-foot fence around the combined property.
Project design is now 70 percent done, with completion expected in early 2024. Construction is expected to start next summer and work should be completed in about two years.
Councilmember Judith Davis asked about the fence, which appears to be on or very close to the property line. She asked that it be pushed back a bit with some screening vegetation to make the site more compatible with the residential community surrounding it rather than looking like an industrial site. Customer Advocate David Wilkins said that he would have to take that issue back to the design team.
Specific work hours were not provided but the WSSC says it will abide by the city’s noise ordinance. It will install a silt fence and a stabilized construction entrance to provide soil and sediment control. Deliveries to the site will occur outside of school pickup/drop-off hours.
There should be no impact to customers’ water service, either outages or water pressure, except for a day or two to tie into the water main.
Wilkins said that the tank is deteriorating. He said he has seen tanks that have started to leak, the results of which can be catastrophic. DeHerde said that noise levels during the abrasive blasting will be monitored. However, the noise will be mostly from the air compressor used rather than the actual blasting. In response to residents’ concerns that the debris from the blasting would likely include harmful substances, DeHerde said that a containment system would be used to prevent the debris from spreading.
He said that the new coating should last 15 to 20 years. The next work WSSC should have to do would be simple painting.
Once construction begins, residents will be able to view updates on the project at wsscwater.com.
Next Update
Wilkins said that WSSC would provide another update once the design is complete and a contractor has been hired. Until then, the answers to some of the city’s questions will remain unknown.
GHI Pipes
Jordan brought up the longstanding issue where WSSC wants to move the meters in the Greenbelt Homes, Inc. (GHI) area out to the street. This would transfer the responsibility for maintaining the pipes between the street and each GHI unit to GHI. He said that the city stands 100 percent behind GHI, and noted that WSSC signed an agreement in 1958 with GHI to maintain the pipes up to the existing meter locations. Jordan noted that pipes are breaking with increasing frequency, driving up costs for all three parties. While it looked like parties were starting to make progress, that stalled 10 years ago. They need to resolve this issue now, he said.
Wilkins said this was above the level of the people working on this project and said the city should work with Government Affairs Manager Monica Marquina, who was not able to attend this meeting, to set a meeting with upper management.
Fun Facts
According to the WSSC PowerPoint, the standpipe holds two million gallons of water and stands 63 feet tall and is 69 feet in diameter. It was built in 1936, which WSSC noted was roughly 30 years before the surrounding houses were constructed.