The City of Montreal said it was in a hurry to repair the main pipe that burst on Thursday, August 16, in order to secure the drinking water supply to the east of the island.
The water main break did not cause any major problems because the pipe had been doubled, but a new break could be catastrophic, said Maja Vodanovic, the elected official responsible for water on Valérie Plante’s executive committee.
“Right now, we don’t have any redundancy,” Mr.me Vodanovic at a press briefing. “If we ever have a breakdown elsewhere, the east end of Montreal has no water. That’s why […] that we want it to be repaired as soon as possible.”
Mme Vodanovic was speaking to the media in front of workers from a private firm who were preparing to lower an inspection robot into the problematic drinking water pipe. The analysis will determine how many pipes will need to be replaced before the pipe is put back into service.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
An inspection robot was lowered into the problematic drinking water pipe
“We’ll know in two weeks, maybe even before,” added the elected official. “These are inspections that we are doing urgently, that we have brought forward.”
The City of Montreal had already indicated that repairs to the broken water main could not begin for several weeks due to a lack of parts.