Frozen pipes wait time removed from city's website

Winnipeggers trying to figure out when crews may thaw their frozen pipes can no longer get an estimated wait time from the city's website.

The City of Winnipeg removed the average wait time from the statistics section of its frozen pipes website on Wednesday afternoon.

When the information was still publicly available that morning, the average wait was 18 days, which was up from 12 to 17 days earlier in the week.

A city spokesperson told CBC News by email that the wait time for thawing was becoming too difficult to predict.

Thawing pipes at each property can take anywhere from several minutes to several hours.

The city is still posting the number of propertieson the waiting list for pipe-thawing. On Wednesday afternoon, that number rose to 1,045.

Scott Wachal's home is on the waiting list for pipe thawing. He, his fiance and their two young children have had no running water since Feb. 23.

Wachal said what's adding to an already challenging situation is not knowing when their pipes will be thawed.

Crews told himon Monday that excavation was needed so a pipe-thawing crew could get at the problem, and that could take up to another two weeks.

"I'd really like them to have overestimated because I want to plan for longer, and then when it's shorter it will be a nice surprise, right?" he said.

Wachal said he cannot connect a temporary water hose to either of his neighbours, so his family is using water from jugs for now and wondering how long they can live in their home without running water.