Close to 300 homeowners will directly be affected by work starting in December to repair nearly 6.5 miles of sewer pipes and more than 100 manholes in environmentally sensitive locations in the Germantown-Gaithersburg-Montgomery Village area.

The projects involve getting easement approvals from the nearly 300 property owners, who already have been notified by letter.

The work also will affect other Montgomery County residents in ESAs where the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission already has easements.

Work in the Seneca Creek basin also is expected to involve rehabilitating two unnamed tributaries to Cabin Branch and Gunners Branch.

Expected to take about a year to complete, the projects will not involve additional assessments for property owners, and the work is also not expected to interrupt sewage collection service, said Walid Halboni, WSSC project manager for the Seneca Creek/Monocacy basins, at a public meeting Feb. 24 in Damascus.

The WSSC will conduct a public information meeting focusing on the southern end of the two basins scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, at the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission maintenance facility at 16641 Crabbs Branch Way in Rockville.

The meeting is open to anyone who wants to attend. An interactive map showing project locations in Montgomery County can be found at http://gisweb.wsscwater.com/InYourNeighborhood.

The meeting focused on work for the northern end of the Seneca/Monocacy basins that also includes parts of Poolesville.

A meeting for the Sligo Creek basin is set for March 12 in Silver Spring and one for the Rock Run basin for April 24 in Potomac. Still to be scheduled for Montgomery County are meetings for the Watts Branch and Rock Creek/Patuxent North basins.

The upgrades and repairs are necessary under a consent decree with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which requires the WSSC based in Laurel to fix leaking pipes and manholes that can leak sewage into the ground or streams that drain into the Chesapeake Bay.

Work is already underway on pipes in residential streets.

Currently in the design stages, the ESA projects will in some cases involve building temporary mulch-covered paths near streams and wetlands to allow access by equipment, according to WSSC officials.

The work, intended to prevent overflows and emergency repairs, is expected to maintain property values and extend the life of the sewer system by 50-plus years.

“It’s to protect the system and make our customers happy,” Halboni said.

For more information, visit www.wsscwater.com/sr3.

vterhune@gazette.net