[UPDATE: A friend of mine has put together… something that’s between an explanation and a rebuttal… in comments here. I vouch for my friend’s honesty, but I think that he’s far kinder to the state government than I would be.]

…and I mean severe.

Sections of southern Prince George’s County will be without water for the next several days while the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) attempts to repair a key 54-inch concrete pipeline in danger of failing.

The WSSC will turn off the water Tuesday at 9 p.m. to make repairs. Though there will be enough water in the system to last roughly 12 to 14 hours after the shut-off, mandatory water restrictions will begin at 9 p.m. to conserve the supply for firefighters and other critical functions while repairs are made.

The outage is expected to last three to five days. Residents in the affected region are advised to stockpile water in preparation.

Water rations of two gallons per person (one hopes, per day) will be handed out until the situation is resolved – by the way, 90 degree weather by the end of the week – and good luck figuring out when that is going to be.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: If you’re wondering why a major suburb of the Imperial Capital is undergoing a poor-maintenance-spawned water shortage right now, the answer’s easy to understand: Prince George’s County is majority-black and overwhelmingly Democratic, which means that Martin O’Malley and the rest of his Democratic cronies felt that it was safe to ignore infrastructure projects there*. I’m not being facetious: I live in the white part of Democratic Maryland (just north of Prince George’s County), and my water is working just fine.

*I mean, what are Prince George’s County residents going to do? Vote Republican?