Aging pipe system is not expected to suffer from BRAC expansion

Officials said it is unknown whether imminent Bethesda building projects — like the expansion of the National Naval Medical Center and several condominiums sprouting up in downtown Bethesda — will take a toll on the area’s pipes. But if they do, the builders will have to pay for fixes.

All builders — even those working under the federal government — must have plumbing permits approved by the WSSC before changing a property’s sewer and water systems, said Mike McGill, WSSC spokesman.

‘‘If it rises to a certain threshold, or could be something that impacts our system, we have to approve it,” McGill said. ‘‘And that enables us to identify the required improvements on our side.”

The WSSC has a 30-year plan in the works to fix its disintegrating system. A quarter of the WSSC’s infrastructure is more than 50 years old, according to the commission. The network weathered a spate of water main breaks this year, with 479 in February alone. Hundreds of customers in Bethesda-Chevy Chase lost water service. The burst pipes caused thousands of dollars of flood damage to homes.

There are roughly 2,500 new residential units planned to open in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area in the next three to 10 years, according to the Greater B-CC Chamber of Commerce.

Major growth is expected at Bethesda Naval Hospital, and has been proposed for Suburban Hospital about a mile away.

The 243-acre base of Bethesda Navy Med currently houses about 20 major structures, including barracks and the 12-building hospital. About 4,500 civilians and military personnel work on the base, and nearly half a million patients are treated annually.

The Navy expects up to 2,500 more base employees and up to 535,000 additional patients and visitors per year after the national Base Realignment and Closure transfers medical services from Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Construction is expected to start next year and, according to federal law, must finish by 2011.

‘‘We don’t really know how it will impact any sort of outside pipe system,” said Ellen Crown, Navy Med spokeswoman. ‘‘That would have to be something that’s definitely worked out, but we’re not at that point at all that we’re thinking about that.”

Crown said the Navy team responsible for planning the merger will collaborate with WSSC. The plumbing and water networks that serve the base are under Navy jurisdiction, with the exception of one WSSC-owned drinking water line feeding into the base.

The Navy has discussed BRAC expansion plans with WSSC, according to a Navy statement e-mailed to The Gazette.

‘‘The conclusion was that existing pipes and mains are sufficient to handle the expansion,” the statement said.

Navy engineers and officials are currently putting together an environmental impact statement to be released by September, detailing the Navy’s assessment of how the expansion will affect Bethesda. The EIS will also propose solutions to ameliorate consequences of the expansion.

Crown said the Navy is aware that plumbing work related to BRAC construction would need to be cleared by WSSC. But prior to the EIS release, it’s unclear whether Navy Med’s expansion would tax the WSSC system at large, Crown said.