By Stephen Vance, Staff
Frozen water pipes have been causing frustration for many residents in Meaford and other communities after a prolonged stretch of cold weather.
Meaford’s Chief Operator at Environmental Services, Chris Collyer, told The Independent that as of yesterday (March 12) a total of 67 residents have frozen water services, and all but a few have been serviced.
“All but four residents have had either their services thawed or a temporary water service provided, these outstanding residences are vacant at this time probably due to vacations. As soon as we can make contact with these remaining residents, we will ensure their services are restored,” explained Collyer.
Collyer says that the municipality will continue to update the frozen water service list and should this occur in future years, notices will be provided priority homes that have had issues in previous years.
“Hopefully anyone affected this year will be proactive in future years, should we have the extreme temperatures we have experienced in February of 2015,” said Collyer. “I think the weather experienced this winter was unique in that cold weather records that were held for 80 years were broken. Infrastructure is buried at depths to prevent this type of freezing from occurring during a usual winter.”
Frozen water pipes might be a frustrating experience, however The Independent has received many comments from readers about how pleased they have been with the response from the municipality.
“I’m so pleased with the way the town of Meaford dealt with our water problem. Chris (Collyer) took the original call and organized things, Brian and Emily (in the submitted photo above) came to the house as scheduled, and worked with Mitch on plumbing and Randy on thawing to restore the service. It took some perseverance, but considering that they all have been working long hours for the past few weeks, everyone was in good spirits. A very pleasant experience -thanks Meaford!” offered resident Earl Helland.
While warmer weather has been creeping in, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Meaford water customers are out of the woods just yet.
“If residents could continue to run their water 24/7 to prevent future freeze up. Even with the recent warm weather the frost remains in the ground and pipes are still susceptible to freeze-up. The Municipality will continue to monitor the number of new freeze-up over the next few weeks, and will continue to update residents with regards to the running of their taps,” advised Collyer.
