By Anne Finlay-Stewart
This was an "other business" item at the end of a long council meeting and a very long day for council and staff, but it is at the top of the list for the more than 100 households and businesses who are without water today.
Director of Operations Ken Becking might just have the hardest job in the city right now, and Councillor O'Leary was the first to express the gratitude of all residents for the tireless work he and his staff are doing to deal with the unprecedented damage this deep freeze is doing to water services in Owen Sound.
On average the city experiences about 25 to 40 breaks a year. Until mid-February, it was business as usual. By the 21st it was evident that public works was unable to keep up with the frozen services, some in areas where there was no historic record of such occurrences.
As of Monday night, 186 services had been affected, and over 80 of them had been given at least a temporary fix. But Mr. Becking was unequivocal – the situation will get worse before it gets better. The frost is still driving deeper into the ground and it is "not going away any time soon." And although there are no numbers yet, it will be costly.
Work crews are focussed on temporary connections or thawing of pipes where possible and repairing mains as the damage presents itself. Services are being prioritized as follows:
- Vulnerable people including the elderly and those with medical conditions.
- Residents who require water to heat their homes.
- Businesses, because many people can not be paid if their employer is closed.
- All others.
If you are in a zone where you are asked to run water continuously (the list on the city website is being continuously updated), DO NOT TURN IT OFF until you are instructed to do so. Even when the temperature rises, the frost will continue to do its damage, and turning off the water prematurely will increase the risk of burst mains and pipes.
If you are not in the water-running zone, please do not run water "just in case", because the city needs to retain approximately half of its capacity in case of fire emergencies.
If you have lost water, please report it to the city as soon as possible at 519-376-4274.
Anne Finlay-Stewart is Community Editor of www.owensoundhub.org. She can be reached at [email protected].