Kitchener reports a spike in watermain breaks: January is above average
Posted Jan 23, 2018 02:39:54 PM.
Last Updated Jan 24, 2018 05:28:28 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The temperature is forecast to plumet about than 15 degrees in 24 hours, and an official from Kitchener Utilities says big freezes like that put watermains at risk.
Manager of Operations for Kitchener Utilities, Tammer Gaber, says there’s been a spike in the number of watermain breaks involving metal pipes this month.
He says the five-year average in Kitchener for watermain breaks in January is 20, but the city has seen 23 this month already.
Gaber says big thaws and freezes mean frost begins to shift the earth around the pipes.
Metal pipes are most at risk, but Gaber says newer watermain pipes are plastic and safer.
He says Saturday’s watermain break that affected 150,000 people was a metal pipe, but the cause of the break could have been the freeze-thaw cycle, or simply the pipe was too far beyond its 50-year lifespan.
Gaber says it’s hard to tell after all the road surface above a break, and the earth around it, has been cleared away to make repairs.
Gaber says there’s no dollar estimate yet for repairing Saturday’s break, but he compares it to a similar size break last year that cost between $70,000 and $100,000 to fix, between labour and materials.
If you notice low or no water pressure, or spot flooding on your property you believe is coming from a watermain break, call Kitchener Utilities at (519) 741-2529.
