Homeowners out tens of thousands of dollars in copper pipe leaks in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The cost may come as a shock to any homeowner who suddenly needs to spend more than $10,000 to replace what most would deem an essential service - the water line running from the city water main to their home.

Many homeowners in Thunder Bay, Ont., have suddenly found themselves needing to find the money to pay for such a repair, after pinhole leaks in copper water lines seem to have sprung up in growing numbers in recent months.

The City of Thunder Bay started adding sodium hydroxide to the entire municipal water supply in 2018, but discontinued the practice in early 2020 due to an increasing number of complaints about pinhole leaks. The city said it will not make any public comments regarding pinhole leaks.

'River in the basement'

The lack of information from the city is a source of frustration for Deanna Ward, who spent $16,688 to fix a handful of pinhole leaks inside her home, as well as the copper supply line running through her front yard.

"That's a lot of money out of my pocket," she said, noting she bought her home in the River Terrace area just over a year ago.

"We just stepped over the river in the basement," as she and her family waited three weeks for contractors to be available to fix the issue.

The supply line was leaking from underneath her furnace, she said, and was lucky that her water wasn't completely shut off.

"I think the thing that's also maddening is we're paying for water that's running down the drain, until we can get plumbers to get in here to get things fixed because they're so backlogged. It's just really upsetting."

Robert Jahn, who lives just down the street from Ward, said he's spent $11,500 to replace his service line, along with all of the other copper lines in his home.

"The pipes were compromised. And, we're not the only person in this neighbourhood to have water problems. On any given day in the summer, you could see one, maybe two dozers," working on his street.

Jahn said he can look out his front door and see six homes that had their water pipes replaced because of pinhole leaks.

He counts himself lucky, he said, as his issues happened in the summer, allowing him to hook up to his neighbour's home so he could still have water, including having a "light pressure" shower.

"Come wintertime, and you've gotta get past the frost, that's going to be a problem."

'Save all your copper'

Jahn said his insurance company won't cover the cost of replacing the pipes, as some were taken out proactively, which included tearing apart his kitchen twice. Once was to fix a leak, the other was to replace the copper with PEX lines.

"When you look through the pieces of copper, you can see big green warts on the inside."

Jahn said his insurance told him to save the cut up lines, as they were looking at potential actions against the city.

"They said they were taking everyone's information, they wanted all the pictures, they said to save all the copper, which we have. They were going to do something against the city at some point. Was that a class action? I don't know. I have no clue." 

"Save all your copper, you never know."

In another part of the city, Mike Fawcett hopes the work he has done to his home will prevent future pinhole leaks. But, he's not convinced he won't see another issue.

"I won't be surprised if something else pops out of the woodwork. I did price out getting all the lines replaced in the house at the same time, to switch over to a PEX or just to replace the copper." 

Fawcett said he can't afford spending $3,000 to replace his lines, after he spent $12,000 to fix the hissing sound of water in his basement.

"We started hearing a hissing sound as if there was some water running," he said, noting it took a few weeks to find the source of the problem - which was under his basement stairs.

Fawcett said the concrete slab was getting colder and colder to the touch. Eventually, the city came and determined the supply line to his home was compromised - and his water was immediately shut off.

"At that point in time, we had four fairly large pinholes in the four-foot section that we were looking at, so I made the decision to move the water meter to the front of the house, which involved digging 10 to 12 feet down, and changing the water meter," he said, noting he really had no choice but to go ahead with the work.

"We were using my neighbours water for a month while I was waiting, because the city shut off my water, and weren't able to turn it back on because the meter wasn't connected. But, we had to wait a month for locates."

"Up and down my street, it's no surprise when you see the equipment."

Fawcett said his insurance will not cover the cost of repairs - so he has gone to the city, putting in a claim under their insurance.

Ward has done the same thing.

"I did speak to the city chemist," she said,  "and he asked a million questions, and more or less said, they're saying, they believe its the pipes and the manufacture of the pipes, and they absolutely don't believe it has anything to do with the additive. So, I asked him, well then, if it has nothing to do with the additive, why did you stop adding it, and he didn't really answer."