The spectacular water main rupture that flooded part of downtown Montreal on Friday should not have happened. The Press spoke to an expert to get a clearer picture.
A “new pipe”
The pipe that burst was installed in 1985, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said. “It’s a new pipe!” exclaimed water management engineer Alain Saladzius, who worked at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs before chairing the Rivers Foundation. “These are pipes that are supposed to last 90 years,” he said, explaining that it is a steel pipe coated with pre-stressed concrete. He believes that it should not have ruptured after only 40 years of use.
Hypotheses
The rupture of such a pipeline, designed to withstand very high pressure, can be caused by several factors, explains Mr. Saladzius. “Is it due to poor installation?” he asks, explaining that poorly performed soil compaction can induce undue pressure on the pipe. “Is there a sewer line nearby that is leaking?” he continues, explaining that this could have caused erosion in the area. A “manufacturing defect” cannot be ruled out either, the engineer believes.
Precedents
Other pipe breaks of comparable magnitude have occurred in the past in Montreal, such as the one in October 2015, near the intersection of Pie-IX Boulevard and Villeray Street.1A 48-inch (1.22 m) water pipe ruptured, flooding hundreds of homes and prompting a boil water advisory affecting 70,000 people.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
A burst water pipe flooded part of the Rosemont district in October 2015.
It was also a concrete-steel pipe, this time about fifty years old. “On Pie-IX, they had found corrosion [sur la conduite] “, recalls Mr. Saladzius2. “This is not normal, because the concrete protects the steel.”
A complex “mesh”
The pipe that burst on Friday, with a diameter of 84 inches (2.13 m), is a main line in the vast network that carries drinking water from the Atwater and Charles-J.-Des Baillets plants to all four corners of the city, and even to the suburbs. “It goes under pressure in large pipes of this diameter and even larger,” explains Alain Saladzius. This “mesh” of the network makes it possible to maintain the water supply even when a segment fails, explains the engineer. Montreal nevertheless came close to disaster in 2019, when a critical two-metre pipe almost burst.3.
Manufacturer unknown
Only one company manufactures this type of pipe in Quebec: Forterra Tuyaux et Préfabriqués, whose Saint-Eustache plant was once owned by Hyprescon, a company owned by disgraced businessman Tony Accurso. The company, which also does business under the name Hanson Pipe and Precast, did not manufacture the pipe that failed, assured The Press its sales manager Domenico Miceli. The City of Montreal had not called back The Press at the time of writing, so it is not known who manufactured the pipe and which company installed it.
1. Read “Montreal: Several residences flooded after a water pipe bursts”
2. Read “De-icing salt attacks water pipes and causes leaks”
3. Read “The Day Montreal Almost Ran Out of Water”