Water worries
Charlottetown residents tormented by extended water rehabilitation project
Charlottetown residents are losing their water pressure and their patience with the capital city’s Water and
Sewer Utility.
About 50 people attended a public meeting Wednesday night at
Park Royal United Church to discuss an ongoing water rehabilitation project in the Parkdale area that’s caused headaches for businesses and households.
Paula Kelly does the cooking, cleaning and laundry at Headstart Early Learning Centre, which operates out of Park Royal United Church.
“It’s been stressful. We don’t have the pressure we used to have for everything to flow through like normal,” she said. “They are feeding us through two garden hoses.”
Some residents have hoses and temporary above-ground pipes stretched across their driveways and lawns. In order to keep the above ground pipes from freezing while the infrastructure is improved, residents are asked to run their water 24 hours a day if temperatures are below freezing. “We are not here 24 hours, but we still have to keep our tap on, so we are still flowing. We are concerned — what if it plugs? What if we have an overflow? Should somebody be here all the time?” Kelly asked. “We found the contractors have been good to come in and speak to us, to help us fix the situation, but no one from the city gave us any communication or timeline.”
Kelly said residents have struggled to figure out the status of the project, with the only correspondence coming from the contractor Fer-Pal Infrastructure. Richard MacEwen, manager of the city’s Water and Sewer Utility, said the neighbourhood of Parkdale has been identified as a problem area for pipes breaking.
“The whole goal of this project is to eliminate those breaks,” MacEwen said.
The $4.5 million budget for the sewer and water rehabilitation originally outlined is being met, he said.
However, the project’s original deadline of Oct. 31 to finish the project has been extended to just before Christmas.
“The principal challenge for us was ensuring good water quality in the temporary water supply system. That took longer than anticipated,” said MacEwen, adding that contractors are now working from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. to finish the project.
“We appreciate the inconvenience the residents have gone through, and we appreciate their understanding while we do this. This project will result in a better water supply system for them.” Sharon Furness, head of health and safety for the daycare, said she is concerned about ensuring everything is clean.
“The dishes are going through an industrial dishwasher twice just to clean the milk off a cup,” she said.
It’s not just businesses having issues. All residents in the area are dealing with the low water pressure.
Jerry McCabe, who lives on MacKay Drive, said it takes about four hours to do a single load of laundry and said the aboveground pipes have made snow removal difficult.
“There are people who have had frozen waterlines and have been without water for up to 20 hours. Thankfully we weren’t among those.”
Other residents at Wednesday’s meeting spoke up about property damage and water waste, while others demanded a timeline from the city on when the project will be complete. MacEwen said homes along Belvedere Avenue will start to be reconnected Thursday and the city would review water billing. Some residents said the city’s plan to base water bills off last year’s usage was unfair.
If a pipe does freeze, MacEwen recommended residents call the contractor at 1-866-344-1058 to come and change out the pipe.