Residents of Elgin, Man., say they’re fed up with water issues that have left some in the village with only a few hours of water a day for more than a month.
On Monday, the province issued a boil water advisory for those who still have running water in the community, located roughly 50 km southwest of Brandon.
But leaks in the village’s water line that led to the advisory have also left roughly half the community with access to only an hour or two of fresh water a day since mid-January.
“Basically that means they have no water to flush toilets, do dishes, clean,” said resident Sarah Lachapelle, who worries about what the lack of clean water will mean during COVID-19, when health officials are advising frequent handwashing.
“The first thing they tell you is your first line of defence is to wash your hands with soap and water — it’s very hard to do that when there’s no soap and water.”
“They’ve been doing this for over a month and we still have a terrible leak and it’s only getting worse.”
A notice posted on the Rural Municipality of Grassland website this week says the water supply problem is caused by “two or more undetected leaks” that have left the town’s water plant unable to keep up with demand.
The municipality says the plant is designed to produce 12 gallons of water per minute, but with the leaks, it’s currently being pushed to 30 gallons per minute.
Grassland CAO Brad Coe tells Global News crews installed valves that have isolated the worst of the leaks to the west side of the village. That means water is turned off for the roughly 25 households on that side for all but two hours a day, one hour in the morning, one in the evening.
“The east side, there’s some leaks there too, but we can keep them going. But on the west side, the leaks are so bad that we can only afford a couple hours a day of water running,” Coe explained.
“It’s quite an inconvenience for the people there.”
‘It is beyond frustrating’
Tracy Penonzek, who works as a health-care aide at a long-term care facility, lives on the west side of Elgin in a house of five including a child who is potty-training.
Penonzek says she’s been living with the water shortages since Jan. 12 and the constant on-and-off of the taps has led to frozen pipes at her home. She says it’s also left the family in a daily struggle to keep up with cleaning, baths, and laundry while making sure there’s also enough water around in case of an emergency.
“As a home owner it is beyond frustrating,” she said in a message to Global News.
“I have no way to clean myself or clothes before or after work. I feel like this is putting a extra risk to not only myself and family but to my residents I work with.”
Coe says municipal crews are having trouble finding the leaks in the line because the community is built on a shale gravel subsurface, meaning when a leak happens, the water falls back into the ground instead of surfacing.
In the notice posted online the municipality said it is planning to bring in a vacuum truck on Wednesday to probe for leaks on the west side of the line.
If that doesn’t work, Coe said officials are also looking at purchasing specialized piece of equipment that will help crews listen for and detect the underground leaks.
But ultimately, Coe wasn’t able to say when exactly the problems may be fixed.
“We know it’s leaking like crazy, but we can’t find it,” he said.
The municipality says the water rationing will remain in place for those living on the west side of Elgin until the leaks are found.
In the meantime the municipality says bottled water will be delivered to affected households, and more water, including bottled and bulk water for those who bring their own containers, will also be available for pick up in the community.