Sudbury family forced to live with frozen water pipes for days

Morning North5:21Living a week with frozen water pipes

Oksana Motalo of Sudbury had to get creative about water while she waited for the city to come and thaw her frozen water pipes... for the second time. She told the CBC's Kate Rutherford about how she and her family managed for a week without water.

A Sudbury woman says it took the city more than a week to help the second time her pipes froze.

Oksana Motalo said service was prompt the first time it happened on the Family Day weekend.

But, despite letting the taps run, the pipes froze again.

• Frozen pipes causing headaches, service delays in Sudbury

She said she was told by the city that she was put at the bottom of the list and that was more than a week ago.

Motalo said she and her husband are getting creative just to flush the toilet.

We melt snow for sanitary water, try to bring buckets of water from other people, she said.

They also buy water, but not do dishes [or] wash floors.

'Incredibly challenging'

A crew arrived to thaw her pipes as she was speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon.

Their arrival came as a relief to the family.

We've just been trying to take showers at friends' houses and at the gym as much as possible, she said.

However, I do have other tenants and it's been incredibly challenging trying to tell them [about] the situation.

The city reports there are currently about 60 people in Greater Sudbury waiting for crews to come.

Infrastructure general manager Tony Cecutti said, unlike water main breaks that can be a sign of old pipes, this problem is mostly about the cold.

"It seems we've had a longer run of colder weather and not as much snow, so not as much insulation over the ground as last year, so it does appear to be worse at this time, he said.

The city charges $173 per hour for the thawing service if the frozen water lines are on private property.

Sudburians also have the option of calling a private plumber to thaw out their pipes.