City prepares plan for widespread frozen pipes

The city of Greater Sudbury is hoping to avoid some painful dj vu with their new "frozen water policy."

The policy was presented to the city's operations committee Monday afternoon. The document lays out a plan for the city should winter temperatures freeze pipelines across Sudbury.

In fact, the entire document was made because of the confusion and frustration many homeowners expressed in the winter of 2015. That's when hundreds of people went without water for days while the city tried to thaw frozen pipelines.

"We've learned a lot about what we did back in 2015," says Cheryl Beams, the city's supervisor of distribution and collection. "We've tried to document things and put things in place so that we can start in a better spot should an emergency of this size occur in the future."

Better communication from the city

The policy includes things like improving the city's communication with homeowners. That includes details on who pays for thawing services. The city will pay to thaw a pipe that's on their property, but if a homeowner calls a plumber, the city won't pay for the service at all even if the pipe ends up being on city property.

Beam says this issue caused a lot of confusion and frustration in 2015 because you can't tell who pays for the service right away.

"We're taking a hose full of hot water and steam and forcing it through the pipe," says Beam."And so not until it's completely thawed do you know if it's on the city's side or not. So whenever there's a frozen water call, we don't know up front who's going to pay until the service is already performed."

The policy also covers things like where homeowners can get alternative water sources and how to deal with frozen sewer services. The plans will go into place the next time a widespread freeze occurs.