A water main break in Montreal burst through the asphalt and gushed water high into the air for more than five hours on the morning of August 16, flooding scores of local homes and businesses just east of downtown.
As crews begin to clean out the heavy debris around the water main break, near the Jacques Cartier Bridge, they will attempt to locate and assess the 40-year-old, two-metre-wide damaged pipe, which has a 100-year lifespan and was installed in 1985, city officials noted.
The damage could take at least one month to repair as city officials begin to source parts and equipment for the repair of the C301 pre-stressed concrete pressure pipe, local officials announced.
“The pipe is now partially exposed and accessible. However, due to the lack of availability of parts, it will be impossible to begin replacement work for several weeks,” announced Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante. “Until its replacement, the adjacent water infrastructure and the boulevard will be rebuilt, with a view to a partial and temporary reopening while work on the broken pipe is underway.”
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The break originated on René-Lévesque Blvd., east of de Lorimier Ave., around 5:45 a.m. Officials said a drop in water pressure within the distribution network triggered a boil water advisory, which lasted just one day.
Local officials have already begun to speculate about the cause of the major water main break, with some attributing the failure to extra corrosion damage that may have occurred from heavy winter road salting. The head of Montreal’s water service, Chantal Morissette, told reporters on August 19 that inspections of the pipe had shown deterioration during an inspection around 2018, and a follow up inspection had been planned for later in 2024.
As Montreal has a parallel feeder main connecting water treatment plants to various reservoirs servicing the affected areas, local officials have not had to impose water use restrictions as seen during the recent and similar water main break in Calgary. In recent years, Montreal rebuilt its Rosemont reservoir to ensure the availability of larger reserves of drinking water.
“Without this, the East of Montreal would have been dry,” stated Plante. “Thanks to our infrastructure management, we avoided a disaster that would have left hundreds of thousands of people without water for several days.”
Mayor Plante added that Montreal has been “vulnerable” to this type of pipe break.
“Unfortunately, despite all the skills of the city’s teams, it is impossible to replace 700 kilometres of old, worn-out pipes at once and monitor them continuously 24 hours a day. However, when they are replaced, they are now covered with epoxy to prevent corrosion and increase their lifespan,” she said.
Plante noted that over the last 10 years, the number of pipe breaks per kilometre in Montreal has decreased by half.
