ROXBORO — You could say the past week has been rough for Dong Wei Zhang. His pipes froze and his running water stopped as a result. So this resident of Pierrefonds-Roxboro has been drinking store-bought drinking water and took showers at a nearby municipal gym.
And using the washroom?
“I take the snow,” he said, going on to describe how he melted snow in the toilet’s reservoir so he could flush it.
He’s one of 173 residents of this West Island borough of Montreal who have had their water service knocked out by a record-breaking winter.
The tide of water outages is something borough officials are scrambling to stem.
READ MORE: Frozen pipes leave dozens without water in Pierrefonds
“We haven’t seen anything like this in well over a decade,” said Jim Beis, the borough mayor.
“The freeze is lower in the ground than it has ever been.”
Workers said Monday that frost has reached down more than two meters below the grounds surface.
This problem is worse for pipes, since much of a city’s water infrastructure is built beneath the street, which doesn’t have soil or snow to insulate it.
READ MORE: Coldest February on record in Quebec and Ontario
In a borough like Pierrefonds-Roxboro, another detail bedevilling officials is the mix of residences.
A single frozen water main fix may restore service to 50 residents of an apartment building, but the same repair might only help one household of a single-family home.
Last year in Pierrefonds-Roxboro, there were only 34 reports of frozen pipes during the entire winter, compared with 173 this year. In the borough of Lachine, the situation is similar, where there were 145 cases of frozen pipes in 2015, and just 17 last year.
READ MORE: Frozen water pipes on the rise across Montreal
Lachine resident Benedicto Pestilos said his pipes froze Saturday and he thought the borough wasn’t acting fast enough.
“We call the city and they say someone will come Saturday night,” he said.
“But then we call again Sunday and nothing.”
He said that although workers restored running water, it wasn’t potable.
“It’s just suitable for washing,” he said.
“It’s not suitable to drink.”
However, Lachine borough spokesperson Serge Simard told Global News the water had been fully restored in Pestilos’ area and that it was safe to drink, even if it may have some discolouration.
READ MORE: Thawing machines for frozen water pipes in Montreal in hot demand
Back in Pierrefonds-Roxboro, as workers pulled away from Zhang’s home, they were already moving on to the next of 45 reported cases of frozen pipes.
“It’s extraordinary,” Beis said.
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