Kitchener, Waterloo get water back after serious morning pipe break

People in Kitchener and Waterloo may continue to notice fluctuations in water pressure Thursday after a water main was damaged at a construction site in Kitchener.

Water poured from the site at the corner of Charles Street and Cameron Street. In a release, the Region of Waterloo said the large water main has a 600 mm diameter and was hit by a contractor working for a private developer at 7:20 a.m.

Drewlo Holdings, the developer with a project nearby, said in a statement the cause of the break is still being investigated but a shoring contractor was drilling in a location near the break. The company noted all necessary approvals and locate requests were in place.

In the statement, Drewlo Holdings said it "recognizes the effects of the situation on residents and businesses in the area" and it "continues to work closely with city officials to investigate the break." 

Region and Kitchener city staff worked to isolate the water main in the area by 9 a.m.

"Residents might experience fluctuations in water pressure and discolouration in water," the region said in a release around 11 a.m.

The region recommends people look at their tap water before using it. Discoloured water can stain laundry and the region doesn't recommend anyone drink discoloured water.

"Running the cold, unsoften water tap nearest to your supply for ten minutes usually will clear discoloured water.  If the problem persists, please wait an hour and try again," the region said.

King Street reopened early in the afternoon.

Hospitals, schools  

The outage also affected local hospitals. 

St. Mary's General Hospital restricted service to "emergent and urgent services only" in the morning. In an update at 11:30 a.m., staff said water had been restored. Urgent surgeries had resumed and the cardiac catheterization lab is now up and running.

Grand River Hospital also had some services "temporarily delayed" in the morning, but the hospital is open.

In an update at 11:30 a.m., the hospital said water pressure had been restored and staff were working to get all services back up and running as usual, spokesperson Mark Karjaluoto said.

"With respect to surgical cases for example, our intention is to work later in the day so as to avoid postponing cases to another day," Karjaluoto said.

Schools are open in the Waterloo Region District School Board. At about 8:45 a.m. the board tweeted that the City of Kitchener informed the board's facilities department that "they should have everything fixed around 9 a.m."

The school board also asked parents that kept their children home for the day to call the attendance line to report their child's absense.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic tweeted that people can report water issues to the city, but "call volumes and wait times are extremely high right now."

The City of Waterloo also tweeted people experienced a loss of water pressure in the Westmount area and near the city limits in the north, east and south.

Flooded 

Burcu Arici's family owns Morris Car Wash, stood beside the building and looked at the water over the parking lot.

"It has gotten worse since I came at around eight this morning. The parking lot was half full but now it's taken over all of the parking lot," she said around 9:30 a.m. 

"The house next door, we own that as well, it is completely flooded. We can't even get in," she said. "Our basement is completely full at the moment. We had spare tires in there and they're just floating around."

She said, technically, the car wash is still open for detailing appointments but said they "can't really do anything without water."

Some businesses closed for the day, including ApplyBoard in downtown Kitchener. 

"We don't currently have running water," said Erin McKlusky. "We don't have access to water, washrooms and also it's a fire safety hazard."

She and her colleague Dong Hu said they plan to work from home instead — but both said they had little to no water at home when they left for work that morning. 

Other nearby businesses got their water back just in time to serve customers, including B&T Food on King Street E., which opened at 9:30 a.m., as usual.

The Kitchener Public Library said the Central, Country Hills and Grand River branches were also delayed in opening Thursday due the water outage.