Stettler has experienced two water-main snags in the past two weeks, and director of operations Melissa Robbins said such leaks aren’t uncommon in cold weather.
Town crews worked Tuesday on the latest water-main leak on 50 Avenue and 59 Street.
“Stettler’s in pretty good shape in terms of water breaks that we have each year,” said Rob Stoutenberg, the town’s chief administrative officer.
Robbins said the town experiences between 12 and 20 water-main leaks in an average year, a number that she categorized as common.
The leak that was being repaired on Tuesday is small, and the town doesn’t yet know what caused it, she said.
Four homes in the area experienced an interruption to water during the repair.
Stoutenberg said the town hasn’t been able to determine what caused the first water-main break, which occurred near Christ-King Catholic School a week ago Tuesday.
There are several reasons the water-main could have broken, including hot soil rotting the pipes, or frost, he said.
In all, eight homeowners reported damage from last week’s water-main break, and the town advised them to contact their insurer as soon as possible.
Town crews have shut down the affected area, which didn’t interrupt service to neighbouring homes, Robbins said.
She said there’s one fire hydrant near Christ-King school that won’t have water temporarily, but the town and the fire department don’t believe that’s a concern.
Town crews plan to examine the water-main break further when the conditions are more favourable and it’s not as cold, which will likely be May, Robbins said.
While repairing it last week, the crews had to work without gloves in order to get into tight places, Stoutenberg said.
“The cold was slowing them down. They certainly had to take some breaks to warm up.”
He added that town crews did “a great job” responding in a timely manner and working through the cold.
The town is looking into repairing the sanitary main on 55 Street, Robbins said.
She said the town is in negotiations with the repair company to also dig up the water-main, because the company would have a larger backhoe than the town.
In that case, the water-main repairs would likely be done next month, Robbins said.