By next spring, Baltimore County will have a design ready for a project to replace an 80-year-old water main on Joppa Road, a county official said Wednesday.
Baltimore County's fiscal 2017 budget includes funds to design a replacement for a 12-inch water line along Joppa between Old Harford Road and Perring Parkway, according to County Councilman David Marks.
The project also will include replacement of a 10-inch water main on Oakleigh Road from Joppa Road to White Oak Avenue, according to Lauren Watley, a Baltimore County Department of Public Works spokeswoman.
Marks included information about the project in his monthly newsletter sent to constituents on July 5.
The Joppa Road main, built in 1936, "has deteriorated to the point that it has generated numerous dirty water complaints," Marks said in the email.
Baltimore County's Department of Public Works recommended the upgrade, Marks said.
"The 12-inch line being replaced is an unlined cast iron pipe which was corroded, had tuberculation and had a history of failures," Watley said in an email.
Tuberculation occurs when mounds develop inside iron pipes.
Baltimore City, which operates water utilities in the county, frequently handles water-related issues like main repairs. But in this case, Watley said, the Joppa Road water main serves only Baltimore County customers, therefore the cost to replace the line falls to the county.
Marks said he has seen similar issues related to aging infrastructure in Towson, and in Parkville, where the water main work will be completed.
"I represent an aging community," Marks said. "You have to constantly be mindful of these issues."
On Emla Avenue, near where the water main work will take place, three of seven houses were built in or before 1930, according to state real estate records. Three were built in the 1950s; information for the others wasn't available.
At the end of June a broken 30-inch main in Cockeysville left residents without water for more than 24 hours, and caused a large hole to form under York Road, which took nearly a week to fix, shutting down traffic in both directions.
This year's budget includes $2.3 million for sewer and water main design, according to county documents. That figure includes all projects, not just the Joppa Road project.