Weather and old infrastructure behind Kitchener's 16 water main breaks this month
Number will rise to match a record high before months end, city employee predicts
The City of Kitchener has been busy repairing 16 water main breaks so far this January.
The recent cold and thawing weather plus aging infrastructure has been the reason behind the significant number of water main breaks this month, which cost $15,000 to fix on average.
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"Whenever you have freeze-thaw conditions and frost being driven into the ground, we do get breaks at weak points in the cast iron or ductile iron pipe," Tammer Gaber manager of utility operations for the City of Kitchener told CBC News.
"Areas of weakness could be like a spot where there is corrosion."
Gaber said the majority of water main breaks happen during the winter months and generally in the older areas of the city, where some water pipes date back to the 1930s.
One of the city's worst years was in 2014 when staff had to repair 35 water main breaks in January.
Gaber predicted they will hit that number again by the end of this month. In 2017 staff only had to repair 14 water main breaks in January.
Surrounding cities
Like Kitchener, Guelph has had to repair 16 water main breaks so far this month. Weather and aging infrastructure are also the reasons why the city has seen so many.
"That's very high," said Kier Taylor, water distribution supervisor for the City of Guelph. "It's a little higher than we would expect."
He also said the city experienced similarly high numbers of water main breaks in January 2014.
However, Waterloo and Cambridge have had much lower numbers. So far this month, both cities said they've only had to repair two water main breaks.
Phil Quickfall, director in water services for the City of Waterloo, said the reason why their numbers have been low could be because of the location of the city's water main pipes and newer infrastructure.
"In Waterloo, we install our water main in the boulevards, so in the grassed areas, where Kitchener installs their water main within the travel width, under the asphalt," he said, adding there is better insulation in the boulevards to prevent frost.
Quickfall said the city switched to plastic piping some time ago, which is more weather resistant. Gaber said Kitchener has been using plastic piping in the newer subdivisions as well.
"Newer pipe that we put in the ground is a type of plastic that obviously doesn't corrode and does better with freeze-thaw conditions. It does a lot better with frost as well," Gaber said.