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Business & Tech

GHI Says WSSC Terminated Project to Upgrade Water Pipes

WSSC has terminated an upgrade project on some of the housing cooperative's aging pipes, according to GHI general manager.

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission's (WSSC) project to upgrade old water pipes is off, according to . (GHI) General Manager Eldon Ralph. Yet in 2007, WSSC told GHI the water pipes needed upgrading, Ralph said in an interview on Wednesday.

GHI Board of Directors President Tokey Boswell stated in an email to Patch on Tuesday that WSSC is ignoring an agreement they had with GHI and Greenbelt.

“GHI, the City, and WSSC have an agreement from the 1950s that tells us how to work together. It seems WSSC believes they can change that agreement unilaterally, to the detriment of GHI,” Boswell wrote.

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WSSC representatives did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

On Jan. 6, GHI received a letter from WSSC notifying GHI that they decided to terminate an infrastructure upgrade project on the more than 75-year-old water pipes in the housing cooperative’s aging masonry homes, according to Ralph.

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After WSSC had alerted the cooperative back in September 2007 that upgrading the water pipes would be necessary, they submitted a plan to accomplish this in 2008, according to Ralph.

Then things started to change, and WSSC began introducing new proposals that included shifting the houseside meters to the end of the gardenside yards, Ralph explained.

WSSC’s decision to terminate the upgrade came after GHI turned down WSSC's August 2011 proposal — that again planned to shift houseside meters to the end of the gardenside yards.

Moving the meters farther from homes would push significant pipe maintenance costs onto GHI, which is responsible for the pipes from the houses to the meters.

Without an upgrade, it is uncertain how WSSC will carry out its obligation under the 1958 agreement to replace and repair the water pipes. To date, WSSC has given no indication of how it will deal with leaks or replace damaged pipes in GHI — other than they will replace pipes “as needed,” Ralph told the GHI Board at its last meeting on Jan. 26.

"When we reminded them of that agreement, they decided to ignore GHI and focus on other neighborhoods that wouldn’t require so much flexibility on their part,” Boswell said.

Board members discussed several possible responses at their last meeting, including asking the to represent GHi's interests or invite GHI to their upcoming stakeholder meeting that includes WSSC.

GHI member Christopher Shuman told the board that he wanted WSSC to be held accountable and not allowed to walk away from its responsibilities. He said its attempt to push the maintenance burden on GHI must be met full on.

On Jan. 27, Shuman posted a call to action on greenbelters, a Yahoo community discussion group: “This may take a significant individual and collective response to get WSSC to behave more like a regulated public utility serving citizens instead of a monolithic monopoly,” he wrote.

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