WINNIPEG – The city says it is better prepared to deal with frozen pipes this winter.
“We are in a different situation now than we were a year ago,” said Tim Shanks, the manager of water services with the city. “We are far more prepared.”
Last winter city crews struggled to keep up with demands for thawing frozen water lines at more than 2500 properties.
“I am sure someone on our street will have their frozen pipes again,” said Janet Sustrik, who lives in Wildwood Park. “There were a few on our street last year so I suspect we will probably have to run them (taps) again because I am hearing it will be a cold winter.”
The city says as the frost goes deeper into the ground it will be contacting homeowners to advise them to run their water.
Right now the city doesn’t know how many properties could be affected because it is weather dependent.
Frost last winter reached depths of nine feet. More than 7320 properties were told to run their water because they were at risk of having their pipes freeze.
The city says it is impossible to know how deep the frost could reach this winter but will crews will be closely monitoring.
“When it starts to get to levels that will concern us we will proactively approach and notify those residents and let them know when to start running their water,” said Shanks.
There will be three frost depth monitors installed around Winnipeg by the end of this year as part of a pilot project run by the city.
Crews out excavating for other projects will also report on the depth of frost observed. Staff refused to say if that data will be released to the public.
The city’s arsenal of thawing equipment has more than tripled. It now has three pressure washer thawing machines. Last year they didn’t have any. They also have four hot water pulse machines which is two more than last year. The city also purchased seven portable electrical thawing machines.
The city also vows the communication with the public will be better.
“We developed whole new processes to schedule this work and to provide better estimates for people,” said Geoff Patton, the city’s manager of engineering services.
Last year the first reported frozen waterline was in December.
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