Along one stretch of a key transmission main in the Baltimore Public Works water distribution system, the pipe has ears.
A Pure Technologies Soundprint fiber-optic cable was installed five years ago in a 5.8-mile section of Baltimore’s vital Southwest Transmission Main. The 54-inch pipe delivers water for not only a large part of the city, but to wholesale customers in several neighboring Maryland counties.
Rudolph Chow, the head of the Bureau of Water and Wastewater in the Baltimore Department of Public Works, says the fiber-optic system is used to listen for real-time breaks in the outer wires of the prestressed concrete cylinder
