Cold snap increases number of water-pipe problems, potholes across Edmonton

Jeremy Thompson finds out how city water mains are holding up amidst the most recent cold snap.

A significant increase in temperature is set to add even more stress to Edmonton infrastructure that’s already been affected by the recent extended cold spell.

City crews are repairing twice as many broken pipes and potholes as last year with temperatures forecast to rise by 20 C.

“Last year’s weather was much more favourable,” the city’s Matthew Mohr told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

“You want to have a consistent freeze or low precipitation. If you do have a bunch of freeze-thaw (temperatures) but you don’t have a lot of snow on the ground, then you don’t have a lot of water getting into the cracks and having a chance to freeze again.”

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Crews are currently working to repair broken or damaged water pipes in at least nine different locations across Edmonton.

In the last two and a half weeks, crews for utility provider Epcor have responded to 49 water main breaks -- nearly double the damage from all of last February.

“With the longer cold temperatures, you get that depth of frost that moves deeper and deeper as the winter goes on, which is really taxing on the water infrastructure system,” Epcor’s Chris Caputo told CTV News Edmonton.

He said despite this year’s spike, water-main breaks in Edmonton have been trending down since 2018, “through our regular maintenance repairs and through (a) proactive replacement program.”

The cold weather has also been keeping the city’s pothole crews busy. Edmonton spends $10 million on pothole repairs every year.

Workers have filled about 12 thousand of them so far this year, and with a major warm-up in the forecast, all that melted snow will likely put patching work into overdrive.

Mohr says keeping up with road repairs in the winter sets the city up for success in the spring, when ice melts and freezes almost every night.

People can report potholes in need of repair to the city online or by calling 3-1-1.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson