The number of frozen pipes in Calgary has increased this week and the City says the majority of the cases cannot be addressed through intervention.
“We have 272 total frozen services to date and there are currently 43 frozen services remaining,” explained Chris Huston, manager of drinking water distribution for the City of Calgary. “Of those 43, there are currently four that we are actively trying to thaw which means that 39 we have attempted to thaw and have been unsuccessful.”
“We’re hoping that Mother Nature will help us out and thaw those.”
The City has arranged for temporary service connections at 25 of the homes or businesses that remain without frozen water services while the other 14 have received care packages of potable water and passes to shower at City of Calgary recreation facilities
According to Huston, the City received two reports of frozen services this week despite the seasonal spring temperatures above the ground. “That frost is still quite deep, probably about eight to nine feet deep in the ground, so we’re waiting for that to start to come out. Even though it’s nice and warm and we’re walking around in light jackets or shirts, it’s still quite cold underneath.”
Frozen pipes have occurred in neighbourhoods throughout Calgary this winter and are not related to the material of the pipe. Clusters of frozen services are more likely to happen in river valleys or in older communities where pipes were laid shallower in the ground than in newer developments.
In an average winter, City of Calgary water services encounters up to 15 occurrences of frozen services. This year’s 272 frozen water services reports is well above average but significantly below the approximately 2,5000 incidents that occurred in 1978-1979. Huston credits the preventative measures the City has put in place.
“A big reason for that is our frozen pipe prevention program,” said Huston.” We had a number of people in that program running water to prevent their pipes from freezing and that really helped us not see the same numbers we did before.”
“Bills are being adjusted for those people that are both running their water or providing a temporary service.”
Huston sympathizes with the plight of those who remain without water. “You don’t have running water, you don’t have life as normal, it’s a crisis. We’ve treated it that way,” said Huston. “We’ve tried to do all that we can within our power to get their services restored and in some cases we just can’t do that.”
“This warm weather is helping us. We’re seeing the frost move but it’s just not moving at a fast rate.”
The City says the worst case scenario would see the pipes thaw in the middle of May but they’re optimistic running water will being to flow by the end of April.
For additional information visit City of Calgary - Frozen Water Lines
With files from CTV’s Bill Macfarlane
