Water running again at West End Winnipeg rooming house

Tenants at a rooming house on Langside Avenue have running water again after nearly two weeks without, now that their landlord has agreed to fix the broken water line on his property. 

Water from that line had been flowing onto the street from a hole above the curb since September.

"At the bare minimum, there was conservatively about a gallon a minute coming out of this hole, I mean it was a significant amount of water. So when you add that up over a period of almost three months, that's tens of thousands of gallons of water just pouring down a drain," said Jamie Arpin-Ricci, a neighbour. 

"Not to mention the hazard and mess it was making in the community."

For weeks, he and several other neighbours called 311 about the "river" gushing down the street. 

According to a City of Winnipeg spokesperson, crews investigated on Sept. 29, determined the leak was on private property, and issued notice to the landlord informing him it was his responsibility to fix.

"Water and Waste staff attempted to work with the property owner to rectify the situation; however, the leak on the private property was not fixed and water was turned off on Nov. 2 to prevent damage to surrounding properties," wrote a city spokesperson. 

Water back on in 'contravention of city's water by-law'

Yet when the CBC arrived at the property on Wednesday, water was still gushing from the ground, seemingly contradicting the city's assessment of who was at fault; city guidelines delineating water pipe responsibilities say the homeowner is responsible for the line leading up to the shut off valve, and the city owns the valve. 

"We subsequently received further reports that there was still water leaking, and upon investigation, discovered the water had been turned on again, which is in contravention of the city's water by-law," wrote the spokesperson in an email on Thursday.

"As of [Wednesday], the water had, once again, been turned off by city crews."

On Thursday, the property's landlord denied any knowledge of how the water had been turned back on when questioned by the CBC. Biruk Abate said he wasn't aware his tenants had been without water for nearly two weeks.

Abate said he believed the leak was the city's issue, because the water kept flowing after crews shut it off.

Arpin-Ricci said his sympathies lie with the building's tenants, who have been caught in the middle.

"They're the ones who have been living with the consequences," he said.

"They weren't even aware what their rights were as tenants. They just kept being told by their landlord it would get fixed, it would get fixed. They couldn't even flush their toilets, they were using buckets from the neighbours' houses to get the toilets flushed and get showers."

He said he went to the media in a last-ditch effort to get something done for his neighbours, who he calls "great guys."

"I certainly hope that the landlord is held accountable both for the negligence to his tenants as well as the waste of water," said Arpin-Ricci.

He said after 20 years in the neighbourhood, he knows how common it is for landlords to see low-income housing and rooming houses as easy sources of income, and often forgo investment in basic upkeep, such as electrical, mould and water issues.

"It frustrates me that there's a perception about people in these rooming houses, it's almost as though they don't deserve any better."

The City of Winnipeg spokesperson said no one will be billed for the wasted water, because the leak happened between the meter and the city water system, making it impossible to determine how much was lost. 

Crews have restored water to the rooming house, which means the leak will persist onto the road for the weekend, until the contractor comes on Monday to fix the pipe.