WINNIPEG – The list of people needing their water pipes thawed continues to climb.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 616 properties waiting for city crews to come clear clogged pipes, up from 537 a day earlier.
“I just about cried because they are saying it’s now a 20-day wait,” said Melanie Fraser.
The Elmwood resident’s water pipes froze Monday afternoon, placing her at the bottom of the list for thawing trucks. Water is even more of a necessity with a husband who has Crohn’s disease.
“It’s going to be a huge hardship for us,” said Fraser.
In the meantime, Fraser had $200 worth of bottled water delivered to her home to make life more manageable.
The city said it has three thawing machines working around the clock. Two more have been ordered in to test.
“We weren’t prepared and all you can do is better prepare for the future,” said St. Vital Coun. Dan Vandal.
He wants the city to do more to help residents going forward.
“It’s really a small price to pay if the city has to go out, buy six or eight machines and hire more staff to thaw frozen pipes,” said Vandal.
The main problem with the pipes is the ground has frozen deeper than usual.
“We know this is an extreme one and we have to design for the extreme conditions,” said Marolo Alfaro, a civil engineering professor at the University of Manitoba.
Alfaro said city planners should consider burying pipes deeper in new developments going forward.
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