Watch the video above: Water main breaks persist
SASKATOON – Public works planned for the worst and got it. From Friday night through to Sunday evening there were 15 water main breaks in Saskatoon.
“The cold over the weekend caused the frost to move further down into the ground. Frost action is one of the major causes of water main breaks,” said Trent Schmidt, acting director of public works for the city.
As a result, classes were cancelled at two schools and neighbourhoods throughout the city remain without water.
“I’ve got 20 litre bottles of water so we’re not going without drinking water so and if I need more I’ll just go and take my big jugs over to the water trailer and fill up, but like I said not the best case scenario,” said Ian McCaig, who’s been without water for four days.
Four water trailers are stationed throughout the city so those in affected areas can access drinking water. Once water is restored, the trailer is then relocated as required.
“We have one of the better water trailer ratios when you look at the per citizen basis,” said Schmidt, who also said more trailers have been ordered.
“Throughout the year, if you look at all 52 weeks, we average 5.3 water main breaks a week on average. In the first 10 weeks of the year we average a little over seven breaks per week, with what we’ve experienced over the last few weeks we’ve seen that number double and even triple.”
Crews are said to be working 24/7 as they do their best to restore water within 48 hours.
“With the current level of frost we’ll continue to see higher levels of water main breaks for the next few weeks,” said Schmidt.
“When was the last time we had a winter like this, to a point I can understand it but rather than doing fancy things to make a name for the city or one-selves like politicians they could be a little more practical,” said Nadia Haatvedt, who’s been without water since Friday night.
According to public works, another department with the city looks at the design depth of water main pipes which is currently 10 feet.
“It’s been a long cold winter, it’s been probably one of the fifth coldest on record potentially to be even colder than that as the winter is still not finished and with the depth of frost if you look at the depth of frost over the last number of years it hasn’t been as deep as it is this year,” said Schmidt.
At this point, more than a million dollars has been spent repairing water main breaks since Jan. 1. Each at a cost of between $11,000 and $12,000.
According to the city, the water main budget for operations and maintenance is about $6.5 million. A budget that covers 250 to 275 breaks a year. To date the city has had 99.
“If our budget is over budget there is the water and sewer utility reserve so it would come out of there,” said Schmidt.
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