Will Your Water Main Be Cleaned in 2015?

The City of Winnipeg’s Water Main Cleaning Program  is underway for 2015.  Water mains are underground pipes that carry water from the pumping stations to your street. Cleaning the mains helps preserve the quality of water as it passes from our drinking water treatment plant to your taps.

Is YOUR street water main being cleaned this year? 

• This map of South Winnipeg shows all the streets that will be have water mains cleaned in the South Winnipeg – St. Norbert ward this year.

WHEN will your street water main be cleaned this year?

• Click on the map on the Water Main Cleaning Schedule page to find out the WHEN your water main will be cleaned, the schedule is updated weekly.

We estimate that we will be cleaning 1,108 kms of water mains in our 2015 program. The program will begin in early June, 2015 and is expected to continue until late October.  Water main cleaning crews work 7 days a week, from 8:00 am to as late as 11:00 pm. Signs will be placed along the street just before we start cleaning the water main on your street. Each cleaning should take less than one hour.

Water mains are cleaned in a specific order (by sequence numbers) to ensure that clean water is always used to flush the mains. We have listed the sequence numbers along with the areas being cleaned.   We clean water mains to reduce discoloured water, which may be caused when we operate water mains.

As crews move through the neighbourhood, they clean small sections of water main at a time. Residents serviced by these sections, and sometimes in adjoining sections, may temporarily experience discoloured water.  If residents experience discoloured water for more than a few hours during our water main cleaning operations, please contact 311.   Customers may file damage claims for losses (such as stained laundry); damage claims are evaluated based on specifics of the situation.  For more informaiton, visit http://www.winnipeg.ca/finance/findata/riskmgt/claim_procedure.stm

Discolored water can be triggered by many different events. Every large water distribution network is susceptible to this kind of problem, with a mix of pipe material types and multiple operational events both planned and unplanned. There is a build-up of sediment and mineral deposits that form inside the pipe over time. When the material in the pipe is disturbed by a change in flow, it can be suspended and temporarily discolor the water. Due to the hydraulics of the system, events that seem physically far away still have the ability to affect water at your tap. We are taking every measure to minimize operations which might disrupt velocity or flow direction in the water distribution system.

Need more info?  Please contact 311 or visit the City of Winnipeg’s water main cleaning program page, which includes detailed maps of the areas where we will be cleaning the water mains.

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