Potlotek First Nations water tank plugged with ice

The water tank that serves the First Nations community of Potlotek, near St. Peter's, Cape Breton, is draining fast.

The stem, or draw pipe,of the tank is plugged with ice.

Water can be drawn from the tank, but because of the blockage, it can't be replenished.

Operator-in-training of the Potlotek water and wastewater office, Noel Doucette, said the trouble started last week in a flash freeze.

"We weren't able to catch it and keep the water flowing,"he said.

"It froze so fast one evening that we weren't able to shut the pumps off and let the water flow down slowly through the day and then turn them back on to keep the water flowing up and down to prevent it from freezing."

The stem of the water tower is 26 metres tall, from the ground to the bottom of the bowl of the water tank.

Doucettesaid it's frozen somewhere along the stem,but he doesn'tknow how far up.

"As a result we're not able to pump any water into the system, into the tower itself to store."

About 40 households are affected.At intervals throughthe day, they're without water.

Doucettesaid people are using water at their usual rate, but the tank is not being replenished as usual.

He wants people to use less until the situation is resolved.

"Water production is limited because we cannot produce as much as they are using at the moment," he explained.

"Families should just learn to conserve a little more and it'll help us keep at least some supply of water to houses."

Doucette said there's not much he can do to melt the ice inside the steel pipe.

He just has to waitfor nature to take a hand by providing some warmer temperatures.