Not only are City of Moncton crews busy with getting the snow cleared, they’re also dealing with a lot of water main breaks this year.
In the last four years, they’ve averaged about 21 breaks in the first three months of the year, but so far this year they’ve seen 34 breaks, and they still have two weeks to go in March. That’s an increase of around 30 to 40 per cent.
Director of Utilities Nicole Taylor says that means long days for many of the workers, because the average length of time to fix a water main break is 6 to 8 hours. Taylor says they don’t stop until the job is finished. Twice this year, they’ve had to deal with three water main breaks in one day.
She says weather has played a major factor in the increase in water main breaks. In a normal year, the frost level is about two to three feet, but this year, it has been at about five feet for the past six weeks, that’s about the depth of the pipes.
