Regina seeing increase in January water main breaks

The City of Regina has seen an increase in the amount of water main breaks this month, but the cold weather may not be the culprit.

There have been 12 breaks in the Queen City so far in January with the average being 13 for the entire month. Back in 2017 there were 14 breaks for January.

While there has been an increase during the extreme cold, the City of Regina’s Director of Waterworks Pat Wilson said that isn’t necessarily the cause.

“I believe that we’re still mostly seeing the after-effects of the very dry summer that we had,” Wilson said. “The frost-line is getting down there but it’s not really the frost that’s the trigger at the moment.”
She said if the extreme cold continues, that number could increase heading into February and March.

The most breaks the city has seen in the month of January was 38 back in 1991.

She said the month of September often sees the highest amount of breaks.

Wilson said the freezing rain can pose challenges to crews, with blocked catch basins and ice ridges diverting the water away.

“As we see some warm weather later this week I will expect that we will see some pooling again.”

She said there are 22,000 catch basins in the city, so it’s difficult for crews to get out to them all.

Adding that, crews are typically out at a water main break in 24 hours.

If a resident notices a break, they are asked to call 306-777-7000 and report it to Service Regina.