City crews everywhere are busying fixing busted water and sewer mains and the weather may be to blame.
A large hole in on Rodney Street in Barrie’s east end is the result of a sewer main break on Sunday March 2, 2014. And that caused sewage to back up in Jack Graves laundry tub. Graves rushed over with buckets to keep his basement from flooding.
“My wife and I were bailing for three hours – two pails every minute, on the minute. We hardly had time to call a plumber because the water was coming in so fast.”
Crews have been working all week repairing the sewer and replacing old cracked pipes. The cold winter is taking a toll on aging pipes across the city compared to most winters. The number of sewer and water main breaks in Barrie has doubled.
“We’re already at 35 and a typical year is 55. So we’re two months in and already more than half way through our usual quota,” says Chris Harper with the City of Barrie.
It’s a big problem everywhere this winter. In Vaughan, Highway 7 was flooded near Keele Street after a water main break early Friday morning. Some cars were stuck in the slushy water.
“Causes are frost pressure. It increases the burden on the pipe and because of the pressure it can snap the pipe,” added Harper.
The frost is about two metres and is also doubling the amount of time it takes crews to repair breaks.
After a week of repairs, the large hole on Rodney Street was finally being filled on Saturday. It’s right on Darryl Percy’s doorstep and he’s relieved his home didn’t flood.
“We’re very lucky, you could smell it. I was afraid it was going to backup into our house, fortunately ours drains a little further south.”
The City of Barrie says the worst is yet to come. With temperatures expected to stay below freezing, crews are expecting to repair a lot more breaks.
