WINNIPEG – The frost is so deep it could be well into the summer before the risk of frozen pipes is over in Winnipeg, city officials warn.
“It’s a little silly,” said Ross Cameron, whose water pipes froze in March. He’s been using his neighbour’s water since.
Over the weekend, when the temperature was in the double digits, eight more properties had their water pipes freeze.
Winnipeggers who have been instructed to leave a tap running to keep the water in the pipes moving should continue to do so, because pipes are buried deep underground where there’s still frost.
With frost still at least two metres deep, pipes could freeze well into June — something that hasn’t happened since July 1979.
“While it’s cold at night I’m keeping the water running … don’t take a chance,” said Cameron.
“There’s a small handful who were on the at-risk list who chose to self-evaluate and say, ‘It’s warm out, I’m going to turn my tap off,’ and they froze,” said Randy Hull, Winnipeg’s emergency preparedness co-ordinator.
Carter Berezay decided to turn his tap off last week.
“It struck me that it’s not freezing at night and we use enough water, and this isn’t going to freeze so we’re ok,” said Berezay.
“In fact, there will be maybe one or two homes who will report frozen water lines when it’s 30 C in June,” said Hull.
City officials said they’ll have at-risk properties run their taps sooner next year — as soon as the frost nears the two-metre mark.
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