Burden, the city’s director of public works, water and wastewater, said the feeder line that broke on Wellington Street, near the intersections with Valley Road, at around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday supplies water to a large portion of the west side.
As crews dug up the area they discovered another waterline, sewer line and manhole running above the feeder.
“And that’s what makes it challenging to repair.”
Looking over the giant hole dug up in the street, Burden said all of that would have to be removed before the actual damage to the feeder could be determined. He said getting that feeder repaired was the priority of crews and once completed the other lines could be put back in service.
“Once we get the feeder, we can get a lot of the west side back on.”
That was just after 10 a.m. and by then a large part of the area had been without water for about 12 hours.
The city had originally anticipated being able to make the repair overnight, but as he watched crews work, Burden said it would take at least another 10 hours to complete and didn’t anticipate having the service restored before Wednesday evening.
To complicate matters a little bit, a second break, which occurred not long after on upper Valley Road, just above the intersection with Mount Batten Road, also had to be repaired on Wednesday.
Burden said when the area around Wellington Street was first dug up crews realized that the water wasn’t stopping even with the valves shut off and that’s how the other break was discovered.
He said it wasn’t unusual to have two breaks occur like that with the old infrastructure that is present in the area.
On Wednesday morning a boil-water advisory was issued encompassing a large portion of the city that is connected to the main feeder.
The water issue also resulted in the closure of C.C. Loughlin Elementary at just after 10 a.m. The school, located on nearby Citadel Drive, was not part of the outage but issues with water pressure were impacting the use of washrooms at the school.
At just after 4 p.m. the city issued a notice saying the protective services division and the Corner Brook Fire Department had activated a fire services contingency plan to ensure public safety during the repairs.
Fire services water contingency plan
- The fire department has initiated its water supply management plan
- Staffing has increased by four fire fighters to operate additional equipment
- The port-a-tank system of water containment is on standby
- The port-a-pump is ready to be utilized
- A third fire engine has been added to all fire calls
Areas without water
Greenings Hill
Webster Place
Gibbons Avenue
Golden Glow Avenue
Kings Road
Poplar Road
Aspen Road
Fairview Avenue
Caribou Road, numbers 53-156
Notre Dame Street, numbers 14,15, 20, 21 and 23
Summit Road
Carmen Avenue, numbers 1 to 28
Bliss Street from the intersection of Caribou Road to the intersection of Aspen Road
Country Road, numbers 2, 5, 29, 31, 33 and 35
3 Prince St.
Areas under a boil water advisory
Greenings Hill and all side roads
Kings Road
Poplar Road
Aspen Road
Fairview Avenue
Caribou Road and all side roads
Notre Dame Street, numbers 14,15, 20, 21 and 23
Summit Road
Carmen Avenue, numbers 1 to 28
Bliss Street from the intersection of Caribou Road to the intersection of Aspen Road
Country Road, numbers 2, 5, 29, 31, 33 and 35
Wellington Street, including all side roads
Valley Road, numbers 1-100
Citadel Drive
City Chrysler on O’Connell Drive
Mount Bernard Avenue, excluding the RCMP, Sir Richard Squires and court house buildings
Broadway, including all side roads
Herald Avenue
Pier Road
Tessiers Lane
West Valley Road, numbers 1-42
Humber Park
Pine Street
Cobb Lane, including all side roads
Reid Street, numbers 24-90
Central Street
Elford Avenue
East Valley Road, numbers 1-75
North Street, numbers 1-44
Armstrong Avenue
Church Street
West Street
Chestnut Street
Park Street
Todd Street
Main Street, including all side roads
Humber Road, numbers 1-27
Gearyville Road
Seal Head (Transportation Canada)
