Calgary learned lessons from Winnipeg on how to deal with frozen water pipes

As Calgary dealt with a particularly frigid winter and a series of stubbornly frozen water lines, it turned for advice to a place that's used to dealing with such things.

Winnipeg.

"Winnipeg has probably a lot more expertise in this area than we do, because it's something they experience fairly routinely," saidChris Huston, the manager of drinking water distribution with the City of Calgary.

There were nearly 300 cases offrozen water-service lines this winter in Calgary, Hustonsaid, and dozens remain frozen even now, despite the arrival of spring.

That's due to a persistent frost line that, in past winters, didn't reach so far underground. But, thanks to the deep-freeze Calgary experienced earlier this year, the earth remains cold enough around some buried water pipes to turn their contents into ice.

That's more common in Winnipeg, Huston said, where winters are colder and city officials are accustomed to it.

"They do some things that we wouldn't typically normally do," he said.

"And one of those things is, even in the coldest part of the season, they run temporary services house-to-house."

That involves running above-ground hoses between the exterior faucets of neighbouring homes so that a home with a working underground line can provide at least some water to the adjacent home with frozen service pipes.

Huston said that's something Calgary hadn't considered until this season.

"In our experience, they frequently freeze in those types of temperatures," he said. "But [in Winnipeg]they've found a way to make it work and keep people in water while they work on the thawing."

The first try in Calgary didn't go so well, he said, with five of the six house-to-house lines freezing overnight, too.

"So then it was just a matter of adjusting the flow and working with the customers on what they actually needed to do, in terms of keeping the tap going, and then we started to see success," he said.

"Because the temperatures outside are cold, you have to keep your tap running to keep that hose from freezing overnight."

The technique has helped maintain at least a low level of water pressure in homes that would otherwise have no servicewhile their underground pipes remain frozen.

As of Wednesday, the city said there were still43 water-service lines that remained frozen solid, and it could take until mid-May for all of them to thaw.