Water woes testing city’s capabilities
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/03/2014 (4236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A combination of waterline freezes and water main breaks is severely testing the city’s capabilities.
“Everybody right now understands the situation,” Mayor Sam Katz told reporters Monday. “Is it challenging? Yes, which is why we owe a debt of gratitude to all civil servants who are working so hard in these trying times.”
The number of water main breaks since December is up 62 per cent compared to a five-year average during that same time period: 217 water main breaks this season, compared to 134 during the same three winter months in a five-year average.
The number of breaks this March is higher than last year. From March 1-8, the city has experienced 23 water main breaks; last year during the same period, there were 21 breaks.
Katz said various city departments are pulling together to deal with the situation: firefighters are delivering jugs of water, while support fire department staff blitzed several at-risk neighbourhoods over the weekend and hand-delivered 3,900 notices.
“We’ve had staff coming from other departments to help out. This is nothing new,” Katz said. “It is challenging but we’re making it work.”
To add the city’s woes, pothole season has arrived.
CAA Manitoba issued a news release Monday, stating it expects 2014 to be the worst ever for potholes and demanded the city outline how it was going to deal with the situation.
Katz said he couldn’t predict how bad the pothole situation will become, adding the city will continue with its policy of applying temporary patches across Winnipeg and going back later for permanent repair work.
“At this point in time, they can only do what we call a temporary fix,” Katz said, adding the city has three or four crews filling potholes across the city right now.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
