Sylvan Shores Water and Sewer Replacement Under Way

In October of 2010, the residents of Sylvan Shores voted to move the community off of the private sewer and water system and over to the county system. The Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works announced that construction of the Sylvan Shores Water and Sewer replacement has begun. The project will take about two years to complete.

South River view from the Sylvan Shores community webpage.

There will be road closures throughout the Sylvan Shores community off Riva Road. Construction flaggers will direct traffic where necessary. Please use extra caution when driving in the area—and be alert to detours that can change from morning to afternoon.

Approximately 62 percent of homeowners on the private system agreed to make the migration to county services because their aging system was failing. Although there was not unanimous agreement, particularly over the long-term costs, the project won the support of a majority of residents and is moving forward.

The job will include tearing up community roads to replace the main pipeline and also connecting the new service to individual homes. The process will involve DPW contacting each homeowner and staking existing water and sewer lines as well as taking photographs of the area on the lot to be disturbed. Once the main lines are installed, service connections can be made to each household.

If the lines from the main to the house are intact, a connection will be made at the right-of-way. If those lines are failing, replacement may be necessary at a cost to the homeowner. Where information about the location of the lines are unknown, engineers will conduct tests to find the line.

The total cost of the project is expected to be about $6.7 million. The cost will be covered by grants and long-term assessments on each property. The county can collect fees because in 2011, the county council created a special “Sanitary Subdistrict,” a kind of tax zone that is created to collect the funds from homeowners in the Sylvan Shores community over the next 30 years. If a homeowner sells, the debt is attached to the property and becomes the responsibility of the new homeowner.

The typical cost per homeowner will be about $2,000 per year for the next three decades.

In addition to the septic and water changes, the neighborhood also received a $1.8 million grant for stormwater management in the neighborhood. The grant comes from the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Between the two projects, the Sylvan Shores community is certainly doing their part to help Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts.