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Late-season water works raises spectre of frozen pipes

Temporary plastic pipes are still exposed as winter closes in; man says neighbours have already seen water freeze
tap-water
(Supplied)

Late-season work on underground water pipes is causing some concern as winter nears, with temporary plastic pipes exposed to the elements – and extremely prone to freezing.

South End resident Peter Brown says work on Loach's Road near his home was supposed to be completed in July. But the temporary pipes are still in place, and some of his neighbours saw their water freeze when the mercury dipped last week.

“Luckily I saw (it was) going to -8, so I said I better leave my water running tonight because all our water is being supplied in plastic pipes that are sitting on the surface,” Brown said.

While fliers were distributed to let people know, Brown said most were delivered too late for people to get the warning. His area is one of several where the pipe work is still unfinished, along with Atlee Street, one in Copper Cliff, one near downtown and another in the West End.

“They said this will be all done and over with by the end of July, right?” Brown said. “Well, we're now going into November.”

In addition to concerns about frozen water, Brown said the exposed pipes will be a big problem when the first snowstorm hits.

“The plows can't get in here – they've all got exposed pipes,” he said. “They filled in some of the holes but they still got all these other holes with wood frame work sitting up. So you're going through a maze to get here.

“We are going to get a good snow storm and when the temperature really goes down, there's going to be one hell of a mess of unhappy people.”

Tony Cecutti, the city's GM of infrastructure, said the work is part of the city's plan to line the inside of old water pipes to eliminate leakage and extend their life by 20 years or more.

“We've certainly seen this project go into December in the past,” Cecutti said. “Generally, we try to wrap up at the end of October every year, but we did an extensive amount – more this year than some previous years.” 

The city re-lined 4.5 kilometres of pipe this year, he said, at a cost of $6 million. The process is getting more popular, and with more competition among contractors, prices have come down. That's allowed the city to do more work, but that ends up taking more time.

The contractor, Fer-Pal, is working with three crews, Cecutti said. The first crew comes and prepares the site – diverting the water to the plastic pipes, getting the old pipes ready to be treated, etc. The second crew comes and actually relines the pipe. The company has a video (https://ferpalinfrastructure.com/) showing the process on its website.

The third crew comes after that and reconnects everything and cleans up the site. 

Cecutti said the work should be completed in November, although it could extend into early December. While there's bound to be snow before then, he said plows can work around the job site.

“We've done this every year for a while now and, yeah, we do occasionally get snow storms in the month of November,” Cecutti said. “The bib (temporary pipe) systems are fairly obvious where they're located. Our snowplow operators do practice runs so they know where the work is being done. 

“It's not the best scenario, but they have to stay a little bit away from the curb when these things are still operating. So it's not uncommon for us to have to work around those kinds of things.”

Residents in affected areas should leave their tap water running on cold nights, he said, and they won't be billed for the extra water use.

“Some people are nervous to run their water because they think that they're paying for the water,” he said. “But the temporary bib system doesn't go through the water meters. They've received letters directing them to run their water, and they should as directed. There's no cost to the homeowners to run the water during the construction period.”

If anyone has an issue with their water, Cecutti said they can call 311, or call the contractor using the phone number on the flier residents received.


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Darren MacDonald

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