Fire Hydrant Replacement Program

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

The Howard County, Maryland Bureau of Utilities maintains 10,111 fire hydrants in our water distribution system. 2,264 of these fire hydrants are A.P. Smith fire hydrants that are the oldest fire hydrants in the system and the most labor intensive to maintain. Other disadvantages include: lack of replacement parts since these hydrants are no longer manufactured, lack of an isolation valve which results in numerous customers losing water service during a repair, questionable functionality when the need arises to use these hydrants and their nozzles were installed with a lead packing that has the potential to fail and damage property and/or injure bystanders. In March 2022, the Bureau of Utilities procured two 5-year contracts to replace all 2,264 A.P. Smith fire hydrants.