Pepco Might Be Able To Improve Service In Four Years

“We know it’s a frustrating summer for our customers.” was one of the first sentences uttered by Pepco’s senior officers at yesterday’s Public Service Commission (PSC) hearing to investigate their shortcomings. Halfway through the hearing, it became apparent that Pepco might be saying the same thing for a few more years.

The PSC had stacks of letters indicating a broad sense of unhappiness with Pepco’s reliability. They believe the community has been pushed to the breaking point. Those who have lived elsewhere with more severe weather don’t understand why the weather disrupts power service in Montgomery County. More importantly, people are saying their power is knocked out on a regular basis when there isn’t a storm.

The July 25th storm received an in depth review since it was the first one and the most severe. Pepco had crews and contractors on hand before the storm hit and within 16 hours additional assistance arrived. Over 90% of the outages were caused by trees. Pepco asserted that cost is never a consideration when they work to restore power as quickly as possible. Since the first storm was on a Sunday, which paid double time, there was no problem getting crews and sustaining contractors to work. Pepco secured help from First Energy in Akron which was the closest neighbor not in the tract of the storm. Other companies came to help as their areas were cleaned up. The staging area was at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. They adjusted the way crew deployment was dispatched. Heavy equipment went first for trees then smaller crews with smaller trucks did service drops. Pepco believes they did “a good job of restoration to customers”.

In 2006 Pepco had a plan to improve average performance in four years. During this time there were slight improvements in the duration of outages but not in the frequency. They added distribution automation, increased the amount of URD (underground residential distribution) cable replaced, and added some underground residential distribution. Every year they identified pockets of feeders with problems then worked to bring them up to a level of standard. Pepco also strengthened partnerships with the County and State forestry groups because most outages are from trees on private property. They have worked with Department of Transportation and City of Rockville foresters about trimming or dropping trees.

Although Pepco’s executives stated their system was “robust”, their improvement strategy still has them in the bottom 25th percentile for reliability. Pepco is “dead last” for utilities in Maryland. They openly admitted they still have problems. Now they want to implement additional multi-year programs for tree trimming and cable replacement hoping to see an overall improvement in another four years. Unfortunately, it is not a nicely planned program with a start and end date.

The Commission wanted to know why improvement was not more urgent. Pepco contended it’s impractical to think they can address every problem in a year. They are addressing significant problems but must do so across the entire system.

Since their actions during the last four years didn’t work, the Commission wanted to know how their current strategy will be different compared to four years ago. Pepco intends to implement more aggressive measures to improve circuits which will have immediate benefits. Their reliability group has the sole purpose of evaluating the performance of the system. Circuits with problems are assigned to the engineer department for improvement. Substation improvements are done once and provide better service for years. 2% of the feeders are replaced across the system on an annual basis. They are replacing the cable in entire subsystems. Increased costs for an improved vegetation management program were brought up during rate discussions this year.

Looking at areas hardest hit from storms, Pepco knows tree trimming alone will not solve all the problems. During significant storms, trees standing 20 feet off the pole line cause outages, especially in older communities. A recent study showed that when trees were involved in outages, over 75% of the trees were outside the normal trimming area. Over half of those trees were found to be in poor health and rotted. They are looking at how they can become more aggressive. This involves rerouting cable and undergrounding wires in critical areas.

When yesterday’s hearing ended, they all agreed this was just the beginning. With Pepco’s lack of progress and long game plan, it certainly feels like a beginning. At a very minimum, customers can expect to suffer through a few more years of poor service.

The PSC discussed the increase in complaints. Unlike 15 years ago, Pepco believes consumers have educated themselves on the system and transformers, so they are more knowledgeable and more likely to speak up about problems. More people are working from home and since they are losing their livelihood, they are more likely to complain. If you would like to speak about the problems you are experiencing with Pepco, the PSC will be holding a public hearing on August 30, 2010 at 6 PM in Montgomery County Council Building. Photo identification is needed to enter.

Although I listened to the day’s proceedings as much as possible, I couldn’t cover the entire session which lasted from 9:30 AM until 3:50 PM with a mid-day break. Speakers were not routinely identified and the live video quality often prevented viewers from identifying speakers. If you watched, please let us know your impressions and any other information you think is important.

MD Public Service Commission Investigates Pepco’s Failings

The Public Service Commission (PSC) of Maryland has launched an investigation into Pepco’s reliability problems. The Commission has ordered Pepco management to appear at a public hearing at 9:30 AM on Tuesday, August 17, 2010. The hearing will be broadcast live on the PSC Web site. You can watch.

The PSC justifies their investigation due to the large number of complaints from the public about the number of power outages, the duration of the power outages, and the number of customers affected after the area’s severe weather.

For example, Pepco reported that recent power outages on July 25, 2010, August 5, 2010, and August 12, 2010 affected 297,000 customers, 75,000 customers, and 98,000 customers, respectively. The Commission also has received complaints of frequent and apparently inexplicable outages occurring outside of storm events. Additionally, customers have complained about Pepco’s failure to communicate effectively with its customers during outages – in part due to the apparent failure of Pepco’s automated communications system.

On July 29, 2010, the Montgomery County Council sent a letter to Mr. Douglas R.M. Nazarian, the chairman of the PSC, asking the Commission to open an investigation into the reliability of electricity in Pepco’s Montgomery County’s service territory. In the excerpt below, the County Council asks PSC to find the answers to several questions including:

• whether or not Pepco has sufficient in-house staff to maintain its infrastructure,
• what are the full range of measures necessary to mitigate the impact of trees, including undergrounding the wires, and
• whether minimum reliability standards can be adopted so Pepco can be held accountable for the length of time a customer is without power.

The County Council also advocated for human beings to answer the phones as much as possible when there are outages. They also want the Commission to insure that the best technology and mapping systems are available to customers online so they can receive accurate information in real time.

From the letter from the Montgomery County Council to the Public Service Commission of Maryland:

Our residents and businesses have suffered an unacceptable number and duration of outages for many years, outages that have harmed public health, public safety and the County’s economy. As a distribution-only utility, the quality and reliability of Pepco’s service is exclusively within your authority. We ask you to invoke that authority to ensure our citizens of acceptable levels of reliability.

We recognize that severe storms like the most recent one to ravage our community, as well as the blizzards this past winter are occurrences of nature that can not be blamed on the utility. However, the extreme results this storm produced highlighted the underlying reality that the distribution system in Montgomery County is extremely vulnerable. Even on cloudless, idyllic days, our residents have experienced unexplained outages. And this happens all too often leading us to ask whether or not Pepco has sufficient in-house staff to maintain its infrastructure.

We also recognize that our county and our citizens value our tree canopy, and that trees are often blamed for outages. But that simplistic response begs the question – what are the full range of measures necessary to bring our system to a level of reliability that meets the legitimate needs of our community, including measures that mitigate the impact of trees? Pepco officials told our Council Tuesday that they have investigated undergrounding those portions of the system that have experienced repeated outages.

We believe such measures, and others that could increase reliability, require a thorough investigation by your Commission. While it is often said that undergrounding and other measures are expensive, the cost to our county and to the state of these repeated outages is also very large – economically and otherwise.

More broadly, we believe that every outage ought to be reported to your Commission, with a report on its causes, the length of time a customer was without power, and the measures that Pepco is taking to ensure that the cause of the outage is rectified. We also suggest that the Commission adopt minimum reliability standards so that Pepco can be held accountable – assuming that you provide Pepco the resources that it needs to significantly improve the system.

And finally, we strongly suggest that you ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, there are human beings answering the phones when there are outages. When a customer loses power, getting a recorded message, often with misleading information, is infuriating. Residents deserve accurate information regarding restoration efforts and a good faith estimate as to when power will be restored. In addition, Pepco should be required to use the best technology and mapping systems available so that customers can avail themselves of real time, accurate information online.

Signed:

Roger Berliner, Lead for Energy and Environment Council
Nancy Floreen, Council President
Valerie Ervin, Council Vice President
Phil Andrews
Marc Elrich
Mike Knapp
George Leventhal
Nancy Navarro
Duchy Trachtenberg

The Order for the proceeding in Baltimore directs the Company’s Chief Operating Officer, and the Company’s senior officers responsible for system maintenance, storm restoration, and customer service to respond to questions. The PSC will also determine the procedures for the ongoing investigation.

What would you ask?

Personally, I want to know more about the tree trimming program. In the past, Pepco routinely publicized a very specific schedule for neighborhoods but in recent years the information shared has been much more general. The 2010 schedule lists counties and municipalities while leaving the area column blank.

Click to enlarge

The last detailed listing was in 2002:
Montgomery County—West Rockville, Willows of Potomac, Potomac Highlands, South of Gaithersburg, White Flint, Garret Park, Stoney Brook, Rosewood, Sunset Terrace, Sligo Park Knolls, East Kensington, Forest Glen and Wheaton.

Here’s the previous year’s list in 2001:
Montgomery County—Rockville, Shady Grove, Gaithersburg, Washington Grove, Montgomery Village, Glen Echo, Layhill, Norbeck, Colesville, Somerset, Chevy Chase, Friendship Heights, Aspen Hill.

When you visit the Pepco site you can find a definition of Tree Pruning which states trees should be pruned every two to five years:

The types of trees along our primary distribution lines in residential areas generally need pruning every two to five years. This is routine pruning. Asplundh, our tree pruning contractor, prunes every tree that could potentially come in contact with power lines or other electrical equipment. The goal is to maintain and deliver safe and reliable electric service to our customers by minimizing outages caused by trees.

Some believe the investigation to be a “dog and pony show” during an election year but customers need the PSC to get to the root of the problem and force Pepco to deliver dependable service. With today’s technology, we can keep an eye on the process and file a complaint.

Letter From County Executive Ike Leggett To Pepco

Ike Leggett

Now that the massive and widespread power outages are behind most (but not all) of us, it’s appropriate to begin looking at why they happened, and what can be done to mitigate them moving forward.

Montgomery County County Executive Ike Leggett has written an open letter to Pepco CEO Joseph M. Rigby that is worth reading:

Dear Mr. Rigby:

On Sunday, July 25 at approximately 3:20 p.m. a line of severe thunderstorms passed through the Baltimore/Washington region. As a result of those storms, over 219,000 of PEPCO”s 302,000 customers in Montgomery County lost power.

While I understand the size of the storm was considerable and the damage extensive, I am at a loss to explain to County residents and business owners why PEPCO took so long to mobilize sufficient contractors to assist in restoring service to its many customers, some of whom, as of today, still have no service.

I assumed that PEPCO, like the County, has pre-established mutual aid agreements with regional utilities and independent contractors whose resources can be mobilized quickly in situations such as what we are experiencing. I also expected a significant increase in resources to have been mobilized sooner instead of hearing that they were just arriving Tuesday, nearly two full days after the storm hit and the extensive damage was clear to you.

Further, there is little acceptable explanation why current conditions exist for PEPCO, and not for utilities servicing adjacent jurisdictions. The storms that we experienced on Sunday were region-wide and BG&E and Allegheny Power have had nowhere near the outages being experienced in the PEPCO service area (see enclosed
map).

This causes me to draw a number of conclusions:

1. PEPCO’s preventive maintenance and tree trimming programs need review and revision;
2. PEPCO’s contracting and operational procedures and practices for bringing additional resources to bear in emergency situations need reconsideration;
3. PEPCO was unable to communicate useful and accurate information in a timely way to customers; and
4. Practices regarding coordinating activities with the County under these kinds of emergencies need improvement.

Montgomery County will continue to cooperate in whatever way necessary to coordinate with PEPCO’s efforts. Still, Montgomery County is not in the business of distributing electrical power. That is PEPCO’s responsibility - and County residents and businesses deserve much better and more reliable service than we are receiving. Many of our residents have suffered great inconvenience and sometimes life-threatening problems due to the extended outages. Meanwhile, many of our businesses have suffered significant losses at a time when they can ill afford to. The unreliability of your service must be addressed.

Given the experience of the February winter storms and this most recent emergency, I am sure there are “best practices” available from which PEPCO can benefit. I look forward to reviewing your post-incident analysis and how you plan to make system improvements and changes to your operating practices to improve system reliability.

Plainly put, the status quo is unacceptable.

By copy of this letter to the Governor and the Public Service Commission, I am also seeking their assistance in ensuring that Montgomery County residents and businesses are better served by a public utility on which they are completely dependent for vital and sometimes life saving services.

In addition, I am convening a work group of Montgomery County residents and businesses that will be exploring the explanations for the poor service we receive and options for improvements. I am hopeful that we will be able to depend on PEPCO staff’s assistance in the work of this group.

Sincerely,

Isiah Leggett County Executive

The “attachment” referred to in the letter in below:

Current Outages (7/29/2010) - Click to enlarge

Carl Henn Memorial Scheduled For Saturday Jul. 31

According to the City, a memorial service for Carl Henn, who passed away in the recent storm, will be held at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre, (603 Edmonston Dr., Rockville, MD 20851) on Saturday morning, July 31 at 9:30 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make donations to either the Chesapeake Bay Foundation or Bikes for the World.

Carl Henn

Rockville Power Outage Roundup (Wednesday Afternoon): Most Things Reopened

Untangling the mess

Things are slowly getting back to normal here in Rockville, as Pepco works to bring power back to those who lost it, and businesses, community organizations, and others work to get things moving again. Here is the latest status, as of Wednesday afternoon about 4:30:

Power: 23,710 Pepco customers still have no power in Montgomery County (we do not have Rockville-only numbers). Keep reporting power outages at 877-737-2662. By now, Pepco has finished its assessments and should be able to give you an estimated time of restoration. They have 400 crews at work.

As Pepco restores power in areas, downed wires that were previously dead may become live. See here for a dramatic story about that. Use extreme caution around any downed power line.

Rockville summer camps and most facilities are open. The Swim Center is operating as usual, as is the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre. Facilities at Rockville Civic Center Park, including Glenview Mansion and Croydon Creek Nature Center are still closed.

Recycling, refuse and yard waste are being collected as scheduled. Crews will also collect branches that have been dragged to the curb.

Ride On bus is operating on a normal schedule. Check here for more information.

Montgomery College still has a few outages. All NIGHT classes in these buildings are canceled tonight: Music, Physical Education, Counseling and Advising, Art, the Performing Arts Center, and the Annex.

Julius West Middle School is the only public school in Rockville without power. No word yet on whether it has been restored. Check this MCPS page for the latest.

All Rockville libraries are open.

Activities At Julius West Canceled Wednesday

Montgomery County Public Schools has announced that a handful of schools remain without power after Sunday’s storm. Rockville’s Julius West Middle School is on the list.

This means: “Activities for Wednesday, July 28, are canceled at ten Montgomery County Public Schools facilities that remain without power. This includes summer schools, camps, recreation programs and summer meals.”

Carl Henn Passes Away After Lightning Strike [Updated]

Carl Henn

[Updated; see end for description.] [Go here for a recap of Carl's memorial.]

Rockville has lost a good friend, a tireless advocate, and an important voice.

Carl Henn passed away today at the Washington Hospital Center after injuries sustained during Sunday’s extreme storm.

Carl was apparently struck by lightning while participating in the King Farm Garden Club.

According to one account, when the storm hit, garden club participants ran to cars for shelter. When they emerged, they found Carl lying unconscious, apparently a victim of lightning though no one had seen the strike. After CPR and initial calls to 911 were unsuccessful, local residents took him to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in a sport utility vehicle. From there, he was flown to the intensive care unit at the Washington Hospital Center.

Carl lived in Rockville for more than 20 years. He was a frequent contributor to Rockville Central (many of his articles stimulated record-breaking comment trails) and ran for Rockville city council in the last two election cycles and in 2001. He was known, among other things, as an advocate for eco-friendly sustainable living and for increasing locally-based community life. He was a key driver behind Rockville’s community gardens.

Carl is survived by his wife Carol and daughters Jessica and Allison.

When we have information about a memorial service, we will pass it on.

Please hold his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Farewell, Carl.

P.S. One of my favorite memories of Carl is the wonderful energy he brought to his City Council races. That sense is captured very well in this video he made for his 2007 run, which but for a handful of votes would have been successful:

[Updated: Added clarification that Carl ran three times for city council -- 2001, 2007, and 2009. Added language to make clear that lightning strike was not seen.]

Power Line Causes A Blazing Street Fire

When the power line was knocked down by a tree last Sunday on West Argyle Street, the road surface burned 10 feet into the air. After the power went off, the line dangled in the middle of the road. Although yellow tape had been placed around the hazard, it was eventually removed. Cars were making their way down the street.

Last night at 12:28 AM, Pepco restored power to the street, including the downed power line. The fire started all over again. Flames shot into the air. The asphalt turned to liquid. The cement curb even burned. Firefighters watched until the power could be turned off but the street continued to burn for a while.

Fortunately, no one was near the line when the power surged back on. Because someone had removed the caution tape, anyone could have been in the area. Even if it seems like a downed line has no power, use caution. At any moment, electricity could fling the live wire around and electrocute anyone in the vicinity.

Unfortunately, Pepco flipped the switch on a much larger area and several hundred homes along Monroe, Blandford, West Lynfield, and Cabin John were thrown into the dark in order to stop the fire. This example illustrates the enormity of the problems Pepco is facing while trying to return power to all 240,000 customers who were originally left in the dark by the storm. One power line with a problem on a side street reverses progress to hundreds of locations.

The power line is still on fire 12 hours later.

As the power outage continues, the temptation is to return to our usual routines. But if a power line dangles, make sure everyone knows and keep the area blocked off to traffic.

I had no idea a road could burn. With the windows open the foul-smelling smoke was horrendous to breathe all night.

Rockville Working To Clear Trees; Sections Regaining Power Slowly As Pepco Works

Rockville recreation and parks director Burt Hall sent along the following update on the power outage:

Pepco Truck

As far as we know Pepco is still concentrating primarily on major grid & system problems, trying to get the substations, transformers, etc. back on line, which as we understand it, is the quickest way to bring power back to large sections of the community. There have been a number of large neighborhoods that have come up this afternoon, including East Rockville and Woodley Gardens.

The City has forwarded to Pepco all of the information we have received regarding trees that are down and tangled up in wires, individual homes and businesses that have lost their connections, and any other storm related damage for which Pepco is responsible to repair. We continue to advise homeowners and businesses to contact Pepco themselves.

The City has five Forestry crews working throughout the daylight hours. We are working through and have made major progress on the many hazardous, City-owned trees along the streets and in the neighborhoods. City crews cannot do any work on down trees that have electrical wires in them without first having Pepco shut off the power; nor can contractors working on trees on private and commercial property. Pepco tells us they are not yet in a position to start assigning crews to this type of work as they are still focused on getting the big stuff repaired. Pepco is not telling us anything specific on when line clearing work will begin.

Pepco: Call Us After 3pm; Most Customers Should Get Power By Thursday

Pepco has announced that they plan to begin giving estimated restoration times as of 3pm today (Tuesday).

Customers can call 1-877-PEPCO-62 (877-737-2662) to find out when they can expect power back.

Pepco’s announcement:

“We expect most customers to have service restored by Thursday but some outages will take longer to repair. More than 450 crews — some from as far away as Ohio — continue to work around the clock to restore power to all of our customers. We thank you for your patience during the restoration effort.”

Rockville Camps And Recreation Facilities To Open Tuesday

This just in from the City of Rockville:

The City of Rockville will reopen summer camps and summer playgrounds on Tuesday, July 27, as well as most of its facilities. City crews have been working to remove felled trees and debris left behind from a powerful storm that struck the area Sunday afternoon.

The Rockville Senior Center and RedGate Municipal Golf Course will reopen Tuesday.

Camp buses will pick up participants at their regular designated stop. Camp participants who are dropped off at their camps should go to their regular camp location. If a camp site is without power on Tuesday morning, buses will take participants to an alternate camp location and return them to their original site for dismissal.

Participants in nature center camps should go to the Twinbrook Community Recreation Center, located at 12920 Twinbrook Parkway.

The Early Risers Program that starts at 7:30 a.m. will meet at the Rockville Senior Center, 1150 Carnation Drive.

The Teens on the Go and Rockville Skate Camps will operate as scheduled.

Several other City facilities remain closed due to power outages. They are:

• Rockville Swim and Fitness Center, 355 Martins Lane
• All facilities at Rockville Civic Center Park (F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre, Glenview Mansion, Croydon Creek Nature Center and Climbing Gym), 603 Edmonston Drive

A decision about individual Rockville recreation classes will be made on a case-by-case basis. Call 240-314-5023 for recorded updates about recreation camps, classes and programs. For specific questions, call 240-314-8620 during normal business hours.

Water restrictions have been lifted for residents. Residents who need to report a downed tree should call 240-314-8700.

Governor O’Malley Visits Home Almost Destroyed By The Storm

Martha Lufkin, Mayor Marcuccio, Governor O'Malley and County Executive Leggett

“It was quite a miracle for us” explained Martha Lufkin in front of her home in College Gardens. She was sitting in the living room with her husband at about 4 PM on Sunday when he yelled, “Here it comes!” She ran straight to the back of the house and tackled her son as a large tree fell across the lawn. Amazingly, the house, power lines and car weren’t damaged. The upper branches even seemed to buffer the fall.

Council President Floreen, Martha Lufkin and County Executive Leggett

The family was using the back door until Governor Martin O’Malley came to visit this afternoon. He joined County Executive Ike Leggett, Montgomery Council President Nancy Floreen, and Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio to access the damage in Rockville from Sunday’s disastrous storm.

“The Governor reached out to us” said Mr. Leggett. They visited Mrs. Lufkin’s property because it is a reflection of the large amount of damage throughout Montgomery County. He is thankful that tragedy was avoided during this unprecedented storm.

Governor O’Malley pointed out that we are seeing three times the amount of power outages for this storm than what we saw during the snow storms last winter. He added “Luckily the temperatures have given us a bit of a break.” He’s been on the phone urging Pepco to get everyone back on line. In addition to pushing them as hard as he possibly can, he’s offered crews to help.

The number without power was down to 160,000 in Montgomery County earlier this afternoon which shows Pepco is making progress. “The key is to get as many people back up as quickly as possible” said the Governor. He promised to push them every day.

Ms. Floreen described the natural disasters in Montgomery County during the last year as a “trifecta” – snow, earthquake and now a summer storm. Looking around she emphasized that we have “the leadership to take care of it.” She also urged everyone to sign up for the Montgomery County Alert System, which was one of the things which showed our true strength. She received the warning about the storm a half hour before it arrived.

As for clean up, Mayor Marcuccio said “Crews were on the street the minute the storm hit” Trucks continue to pick up fallen debris throughout Rockville.

Tree fallen in front of the Lufkin home

As we join our elected officials to look around Rockville at the damage from yesterday’s storm, it truly is a miracle that no one was killed. As the County Executive mentioned, we try to preserve as many trees as possible and this extreme weather takes a toll on our green neighborhoods.

Rockville also has its own alert system: Alert Rockville. Be sure you are signed up!

What’s Open And Closed From The City And County [Updated]

Jenny Kimball from the City of Rockville was kind enough to send along some helpful information and official closings.

Clean up:

Downed trees should be reported to 240-314-8700.

Crews will pick up yard waste all week, including branches if they have been dragged to the curb. Crews will not come onto private property to pick up branches or other debris.

Recycling and refuse will be picked up on a normal schedule, although the trucks may be running late because of the expected large volume of yard waste.

Closings:

Update: You might not expect it because it’s outside but the RedGate Municipal Golf Course is closed.

Senior Center is closed.

Swim center is closed.

Civic center and all related facilities are closed (Croyden Creek Nature Center, F. Scott Fitzgerald Theater, Glenview Mansion and the Climbing Gym).

All camps and playground programs are closed.

Open!

Recreation Centers will be open on their normal schedule and open as cooling centers.
Twinbrook - 6:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Thomas Farm – 6:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Lincoln Park - 9:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Just added:
Elwood Smith - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Montrose - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Parents are asked to register their children when they drop them off, so they have emergency contact info.

Richard Montgomery High School will be open as a special needs shelter. People should call 311 for more information.

Also, the Drive for Supplies at Richard Montgomery High School is on today.

Montgomery County has also announced their closings:

The Bauer Drive Recreation Center along with all the other Montgomery County Recreation facilities are closed today (except for the Upper County Neighborhood, Germantown, East County Neighborhood and Marilyn J. Praisner Community Recreation Centers.)

If you want to go to the pool, the Germantown Indoor and Olney Swim Centers are open.

All other sites Montgomery County sites are closed, including the main administrative office.

All summer camps, summer fun centers and Recreation summer classes are cancelled for today

The Montgomery College Rockville campus will be closed today. (Takoma Park and Germantown campuses will be open.)

Due to storm related power outage at 255 Rockville Pike, the Occupational Medical Service (OMS) unit is closed today. All appointments are cancelled and will be rescheduled at a later date.

Remember:

When signals are out, residents should treat them as 4-way stops.
Water restrictions are still in place.

Most Rockville Cooling Centers Open Today

We have just heard from Rockville’s Recreation and Parks director, Burt Hall, who let us know that these cooling centers are open: Lincoln Park, Thomas Farm, and Twinbrook. Richard Montgomery High School is operating as a “special needs shelter” staffed by the Red Cross.

If necessary, the City can open the Senior Center and other buildings as cooling centers too.

Mandatory Water Use Restrictions For All of Rockville

Usually when WSSC issues water restrictions it only concerns some Rockville residents, mostly in King Farm. However, as the City Manager reported last Monday, the City of Rockville is currently getting its water supply from WSSC so City of Rockville customers must also conserve.

Effective immediately WSSC is issuing Mandatory Water Restrictions for Prince George’s and Montgomery counties until further notice.

It is imperative that all business and residential customers:

Stop all outside water use – no watering lawns, no washing cars, no topping off swimming pools

Use water only as necessary – i.e., shorter showers and turn off faucets after washing hands

Limit flushing toilets (do not flush after every use)

Limit using washing machines and dishwashers (wash full loads only)

These mandatory water restrictions apply to all WSSC customers, residential and business, in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.

The water main, which connects Rockville’s Water Treatment Plant (WTP) to Rockville’s water customers, has been out of service since July 12 due to the water main breaks on July 7th and 12th. The Department of Public Works is working to find the problem and have the pipes repaired.

This has been some summer with both WSSC and Rockville experiencing major water delivery problems!