City scrambles to fix broken pipes

City workers have scrambled over the past few weeks to keep up with burst water and sewage pipes.

At one site towards the graveyard, workers spent about two weeks replacing around 80 feet of cracked sewage piping, believed to be 25 to 35 years old. At the same time, they had three other breaks to deal with around the city.

“They were running from one to the other,” said Mark Hall, the city’s public works director.

One pipe blew out beneath the front steps of the Subway building, which also houses Hall’s office. He came to call the gushing water “the jacuzzi.”

A high-pressure water line behind the Frobisher Inn also blew, threatening to knock out water to the entire Nunastar complex and White Row residences. And a third section of pipe ruptured opposite City Hall.

“The water must be kept moving all the time, otherwise we wind up in a popsicle situation,” Hall said, describing frozen pipes.

The city has six employees who repair blown pipes, using trucks, excavators and a backhoe to chisel through soil that’s frozen solid “like concrete.”

Smaller bursts periodically happen when overflow pipes of homes on trucked water and sewage plug up.

Residents should remember it’s their responsibility to replace the red indicator bulbs outside their homes, and to ensure the overflow pipes are clear, Hall said.

“Just put a coathanger in it,” he said.

This summer the city plans to spend $250,000 on replacing aging pipes. Until then, its workers expect to remain busy.

“We’re a long way off now,” Hall said.