City expects water-main breaks to hit 280
With one or two ruptures a day, city tries to restore residential service in 48 hours
The City of Saskatoon has dealt with 268 water-main breaks so far this year — 85 more than in 2016 — and that number is expected to continue climbing before the new year arrives.
At a news conference on Thursday, Russ Munro, the city’s director of water and waste stream, said he expects the final number for 2017 to reach about 280, since the city receives reports of one or two breaks daily.
“We can’t fight Mother Nature, we can’t fight the frost, but we can put investment in the ground to make sure we are eliminating things like corrosion, pipe fatigue and things like that,” Munro said.
The city is able to replace or rehabilitate around seven kilometres of water mains every year at a cost of $14 million, he said.
When breaks happen, the city’s focus is on trying to restore water service to residents within 48 hours, although it isn’t uncommon for additional issues to arise after a water main has been fixed and water restored — leading to additional shut-offs as issues arise, Munro said, adding that when water service is stopped for any resident it is a main concern for the city.
“There are some non-breaks in the distribution system that we will let go for longer. For example, on the Nov. 7 when we had that 25th Street break plus a whole bunch of other breaks, we triage,” he said. “There were some breaks that were in an intersection where we were able to isolate that break without impacting any residents. So that kind of break we would just leave until the other breaks are done.”