Water main break whack-a-mole comes to our neighbourhood

A small sprinkle of rain had covered the ground when I came outside the house during noon hour, planning to attend a funeral. Muddy water was pouring down the gutters on both sides of the street at half an inch depth. It was puzzling, then one could see the pavement lifting from the gutter as pressure from a water main break shoved it up.

Rushing inside, I phoned the city emergency line, irritated at having to leave a message. Coming back outside, two pleasant, courteous city employees were walking up the street telling us to fill our bathtubs with water. Water main break wack-a-mole had come to our block in the avenues.

We and our neighbour to the north were unable to fill our bathtubs or a pail with water, leading to speculation our service connections might have broken.

A crew of six came and supervised opening of the pavement and sinkhole in the street just across from us. “You used to have one of the best streets in the city to drive,” said the excavator machine operator. “I guess we can expect more of these in a while now that it began,” I said.

“Don’t say that,” he responded, while other city employees nodded.

We had noticed the block north of us had one break several years ago and now has had at least six, making it a roller coaster ride.

With all the rust on the cast iron pipe, it was like using an eggshell for a pipe.

Once the three-inch pavement was out of the way, the excavator pulled buckets of water with some dirt out of the hole.

Another city employee commented it was lucky St. Agnes School at the other end of the block was closed for the summer. A school bus coming down Third Avenue would have crashed through into the sinkhole. By supper, water was restored. The hole was partially filled. I had gone to a fast food place to use the washroom. Our neighbour’s boys did the same and that family went out for supper.

While exchanging this information, the neighbour suggested we take our bills to “your friend, the mayor” “Why?” I asked.

“Well, he buys birthday cake with city money.” This pensioner noted he would pay his own way. Everything seemed fine the next day. We came back from a morning/afternoon outing. My partner and wife loved to watch the little yellow robot packer do its job on the slowly filled hole.

“Isn’t it neat?” she commented. She probably wished she were in the excavator cab handling the controls. Something went amiss.

Water popped out of the hole. We were back to a waterless house but had the opportunity to fill the bathtub and some pails with water. And the city brought in a “portable potable water well.”

The hole looked like a muddy fishpond.

On day two, the hole was filled as my partner and wife stood by the kitchen window thrilled at the little yellow robot packer.

We wondered how often the city repair crews are treated rudely by residents upset at a main break. It’s not their fault. Blame the city councils since 1991 that didn’t start water main replacement.

That year – 28 years ago — city council was informed of the future crisis.

Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net