On its best days, WSSC Water, the largest water and sewer utility in Maryland, seamlessly serves 2 million residents in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.
But it’s also a sprawling organization with 1,700 employees that receives very little public scrutiny. The leaders of the two counties appoint WSSC’s governing commission, which in turn hires and oversees its general manager, but the lines of authority and accountability are often blurred. Some policies and operational procedures are set by state government, rather than the counties WSSC serves. And the agency’s gleaming headquarters overlooking Interstate 95 in Laurel is often the object of wonder and resentment in the quotidian world of local government.
“This is the sewer department, y’all,” the late Prince George’s County Executive Wayne Curry (D) once said in exasperation. “They only need a garage with a couple of trucks out back.”
Despite — or maybe because of — its size and unique status in Maryland public service, WSSC has for decades been the source of political battles, territorial disputes, shakedowns and assorted other power plays. A new round of internal dissension has burst into the open only recently.
