City’s stalling frosts resident

Nearly 80 more frozen pipes

By: Aldo Santin Posted: 1:00 AM CST Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2014

A Wildwood Park man says if he had followed common sense and ignored advice from city hall, he'd have water flowing at his home today.

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A Wildwood Park man says if he had followed common sense and ignored advice from city hall, he'd have water flowing at his home today.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/03/2014 (4527 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Wildwood Park man says if he had followed common sense and ignored advice from city hall, he’d have water flowing at his home today.

Instead, Jesse Cringan said he has joined a long list of neighbours on his street without water because of frozen water lines.

“For three days, I asked the city, ‘Should I leave my taps running?’ and each time the city said ‘no,’ ” Cringan said. “(Monday) morning, I had no water.”

Ken Gigliotti / Winnipeg Free Press files
A city worker connects electrical cord to heat a frozen water pipe. — Ken Gigliotti / Winnipeg Free Press files A city worker connects electrical cord to heat a frozen water pipe.

Cringan said he learned late last week several neighbours on his bay have been without water for over a week.

Cringan said all the homes in the development were built at about the same time — 1950 — and are served by the same water line.

“It made sense to me that if their lines are frozen that maybe I’d be next,” Cringan said, adding he wanted authorization from the city to run his taps so he could avoid a higher water bill.

Cringan said he kept his taps closed only to wake up Monday to find his home didn’t have any water either.

“I guess, looking back, I should have just decided I’d run the water and pay the extra on my water bill. It would be better to incur a higher water bill for a few months rather than go without water at all for four to six weeks.”

The waiting list for properties with frozen lines continues to increase — at the end of day Tuesday the number was 616, up from 537 the day before, and 300 properties a week ago.

City officials said they were advising about 1,000 property owners who’ve had frozen water lines in the past to keep a single tap open running a straw’s diameter of water 24 hours a day.

Officials said the additional cost on the water bills would be waived — but only for those properties that were formally notified by letter from the city.

Property owners have been told they will likely have to wait three weeks before their lines can be thawed and city officials said the situation could persist until May or June.

Winnipeg Free Press
Dan Vandal — Winnipeg Free Press Dan Vandal

Unusually cold weather has pushed the frost line to 2.1 metres this year from its typical 1.5-metre depth.

Cringan said he’s frustrated the city isn’t advising all residents to keep their taps running around the clock to keep lines from freezing.

“Properties are freezing that never froze before, so we should be worrying about everyone’s property,” Cringan said.

“You would think the city’s priority would be to prevent more properties from being affected but they seemed to be more concerned about losing potential income.”

Mayor Sam Katz announced Monday the city will offer free showers to frozen-pipe-affected residents at 13 city recreational facilities, including all city pools.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca

Brace for more climate woes, councillor warns

A veteran city councillor says emergencies resulting from climate change will be more frequent in the future and the city needs to be better prepared to deal with them.

St. Boniface’s Dan Vandal said the city responded the best it could to the frozen water lines but added such situations likely will be more frequent in the future and a similar response will not be adequate.

“Everyone will understand it’s been an extremely cold winter and there’s been lots of snow,” Vandal said following a special meeting of the public works committee.

“The lesson to be learned here is climate is changing, it’s going to offer all sorts of different challenges to municipalities and large cities and we need to start thinking about trying to get a handle on the unexpected, in terms of weather.”

The waiting list for properties with frozen lines continues to increase — at the end of day Tuesday the number was 616, up from 537 the day before, and 300 properties a week ago.

Vandal said the city has done the best it could with the resources available, but added more creative solutions should have been explored to help affected residents.

“It’s incumbent on civic leaders, both on the political level and administrative level, to start thinking that way,” said Vandal, who is preparing a bid to run federally in 2015 and will not seek re-election to council in the October election.

Vandal said the city should double the number of pipe-thawing machines it has, from three to six, and make arrangements with municipalities to share such equipment and staff if more are needed.

“When you put it in context with what people are going through and suffering, it’s a minimal investment on behalf of the city of Winnipeg,” Vandal said. “We have to be prepared for this in the future.”

Vandal said residents who believe they’ve suffered economic damages as a result of the pipe freezing should file a claim with the city.

— Aldo Santin