March 27, 2009

RON CATLING

Sault Ste. Marie had twice the number of watermain breaks this past winter, based on a five-year average.

As number of watermain breaks rises, Ontario can expect major repair bills

ELAINE DELLA-MATTIA

correspondent

SAULT STE. MARIE

Sault Ste. Marie had twice as many watermain breaks this winter compared to a typical winter, based on the five-year average.

Dominic Parrella, the local Public Utility Commission’s vice president of operations and engineering, said the cold winter, deep frost and aging infrastructure have made it “a very bad year” for watermain breaks in the city.

Since Nov. 1, the PUC has recorded 75 breaks in the city.

“We don’t know where we’re going to end up when the count is done at year end,” he said. “You just can’t predict what is going to happen.”

Annual statistics show an average of 80 to 100 per fiscal year.

“We always have issues throughout the winter and into the spring, but we do have breaks year round,” Parrella said.

The highest number of breaks recorded in recent years was during the 2002-03 year when 191 water main breaks were reported, he said.

Watermain breaks typically occur when frost develops deep in the ground and causes differential pressure on cast iron water mains.

Frost levels this year have been recorded at between four and four-and-a-half feet deep.

More than half of the watermains that exist in the Sault are still cast iron. Of those, most were installed between the 1940s and 1960s when the city was growing, Parrella said.

The cast iron water mains are located throughout the city, mostly in residential areas and in the downtown core, and breaks usually occur on the mains that are 18 inches wide.

They’re highly susceptible to frost and “snap” with the deep frost, he said.

Since the 1960s, ductile iron watermains have been used, which offer more flexibility and bend more easily during the cold winter months.

However, the iron water mains have corrosion problems, compared to the newer PVC pipes the city has been using since the early 1990s.

As part of its road construction plan, the city reviews the infrastructure regularly and is attempting to replace the older sewer and watermains slowly, as part of its annual road reconstruction plan.

But in some cases, the road work has been done after sewer and watermain infrastructure has been ruled in fair shape, and the breaks still occur.

A major break occurred in early January on the city’s main north-south roadway, creating havoc and traffic detours in the central area for two days.

The Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association recently issued an advisory to residents and motorists in the province warning them to expect significant disruption and delays resulting from broken water pipes during the spring.

”Just as we have a flu season and a mosquito season, we have to have a burst watermain season in Ontario and we’re just now heading into it,” noted Frank Zechner, executive director of OSWCA.

The thaw/freeze cycle that takes place from March through April plays havoc with the older water pipes still in use.

It has been estimated that an additional $18 billion will be needed in the next 15 years, over and above current expenditures, to modernize the water infrastructure in Ontario.

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