City crews praised for quick action

Two more water mains broke early Saturday morning; 10 have broken in the past 3 weeks

The general manager of the Penticton Lakeside Resort is praising city crews for providing emergency water to the resort following a break in a city water main on Saturday.

Staff were called to two water main breaks early on Saturday morning. One was at the corner of Martin Street and Lakeshore Drive; the other on Okanagan Ave., near Main Street.

“Andrew’s team (Jakubeit, the mayor) did an absolutely fabulous job at providing water for the resort and our guests and we appreciate everyone for coming down during the middle of the night,” Lakeside manager David Prystay said.

“Len Robson and Ron Johnson and their crews — fabulous jobs — we can’t thank everyone enough,” he said.

According to Robson, the public works manager, crews were called to Lakeshore Drive shortly after 1 a.m. and it took some time to determine the problem. The Lakeside was the only property affected.

“It took some creative thinking on the part of our water foreman (Johnson), but he was able to tie a fire hydrant from Main Street to a fire hydrant on the resort’s property, isolate their service, turn the main off and keep the Lakeside in water.”

Prystay didn’t say how many guests were in the hotel, but according to witnesses, there were guests who attended a large retirement party, plus airline crews from both WestJet and Air Canada staying overnight.

Crews completed their repairs by 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Also on Saturday around 1:30 a.m., a break occurred near Shades on Main restaurant which affected 25 residential homes. Service was restored by 11:30 a.m.

Robson said more than 10 city employees were called in on Saturday.

Police were also on hand near the hotel.

The temperature on Saturday morning was minus-13, which is abnormal for this time of year and for such a long duration. There have been 10 water main breaks in Penticton over the past three weeks.

“It’s been exceptional for us,” Robson said.

“It’s a combination of factors. There’s a fair bit of frost in the ground, and when the frost tightens up and the ground moves ever so slightly, it causes a contracting on the pipes and they pop. That, combined with the cold weather, along with aging infrastructure, have kept us busy.”