City of Lethbridge emergency water supply trailer. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

What to do & what the City of Lethbridge does when a water main breaks

Dec 23, 2019 | 11:37 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The City of Lethbridge’s crews deal with water main breaks year-round, but it does become a more common problem in the winter. On average, they deal with anywhere from 50-100 per year.

On Saturday night, staff worked to repair a break along 18 Street A North and 10 Ave North, and while they were able to get water flowing to the nearby homes fairly quickly, they were still working on some more major repairs to the pipes Monday morning.

Crews repairing the water main on 18 Street A North and 10 Ave North. (Lethbridge News Now)

Water and Wastewater Operations Manager Leanne Lammertsem says the goal is to have water main breaks fully repaired in 24 hours, but depending on the situation, it can sometimes take a couple of days.

When a water main break is reported to the city, she explains that they first go door-to-door to inform residents about the break and that they will have to shut their water supply off.

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In addition to repair crews, they will then bring in an emergency water supply trailer to ensure that people in the neighbourhood can still have access to clean water.

From there, the employees get to work on repairing the system.

On the residents’ end, Lammertsem says it is important to always be prepared.

“The biggest thing is preparation and to know what to do in the event. Have sort of a plan [for where] you would go to have a shower if the water main break lasted a couple of days – you can go to the pool or sort of a fitness centre is what we recommend people do.”

She recommends having a clean bucket on hand to gather water from the water supply trailer for whatever purposes you need it for.

Since water main breaks affect entire streets, Lammertsem adds that you should look out for those around you as well.

“The other thing we ask people to do is to check on their neighbours. If they aren’t actually able to carry water to their homes to just make sure they can get some water. You can have jugs of water in your house for any time a water main break might happen.”

If you suspect that there has been a water main break in your area in Lethbridge, you can call 311 to inform the city.

More details here.