A man in the Dorchester area of Northwest Baltimore has been without water for a week, and he wants the city to fix the problem.
On May 31 the Department Of Public Works came out to fix a pipe that was leaking out through the concrete into Belle Avenue.
While crews worked they shut off Brian Munford’s water, and a week after they left he’s now stuck with a broken underground pipe and no running water.
“I want water,” Munford said. “I mean that’s not the right way to do that, it’s bad it happens that way. Can’t flush the toilet, they should fix my pipe. It was working before you started it should be working when you finish.”
A spokesperson for the department said they replaced the city line, but the old galvanized line going to Munford's home is his responsibility.
“The water meter they broke a piece of pipe because they tell me it was galvanized on my side,” Munford said. “Before they broke it everything was working fine. They turned it off and when they turned it back on I had no water they showed me a piece of pipe about that long.”
He’s got other issues with the city crews work.
Mainly that they left a large piece of metal that was covering the hole in the road and that the finished product is like a speed bump without a warning.
He’s looking at an expensive repair to get the water running again, and that is putting a hold on finishing other projects.
“I’m looking at least at 3 more grand. I can’t get the porch finished until I find out what’s really happening here. It cost me 8 grand to get the porch.”
The city suggested he look into HomeServe (https://www.homeserveusa.com/utility-partners/our-valued-partners/baltimore) a utility insurance service that would have covered the pipe.
“If I have that insurance I wouldn’t have to pay them they would recoup the pay. My philosophy on that is I shouldn’t have to pay anything because it was good when you started. In other words, your telling me about an insurance program I’m going to have to pay back money if I qualify. I shouldn’t even have to qualify. I shouldn’t even be in the picture. Come fix my pipe the way it was.”
A spokesperson for DPW said they are reaching out to Munford to see if he qualifies to get help with the pipe, and they did drop off 6 gallons of water the night they got done working.
Munford said he’s not hiring his own plumber, holding out hope that the city will fix the problem.
