As Carol Wheeler was putting away groceries at Gourmet Station, she became increasingly aware of how cold it was inside the coffee shop.
“We … went down and looked in the basement just to see if we could notice anything wrong, and there was water,” Wheeler said.
Again. There was water again.
City crews arrived at the intersection of Mississaga and Andrew streets at about 10 p.m. Sunday after the water main running underneath it burst, said Andrew Schell, the city’s director of environmental services.
It isn’t the first time it happened.
The same water main broke in early 2013, about 20 metres east of where it did Sunday, but the city didn’t realize it right away. Eventually, there was so much pressure on the pipe, it exploded Feb. 2, propelling water into the foundation of Gourmet Station, collapsing the sidewalk and roadway and compromising the electrical utilities underneath.
While the city typically doesn’t consider replacing water mains that have broken only once or twice in the span of a few years — usually, they break about half a dozen times before that’s warranted — Schell said this water main, which runs from the hospital to the library, is a different story.
“We will definitely be looking at this,” he said. “One of the reasons we’ll look at it is because it’s in a high-infrastructure area.”
There wasn’t any infrastructure damage caused by Sunday’s incident Sunday, Schell said.
The total cost of clamping the pipe and temporarily covering the road and sidewalk in an asphalt-coal mix was between $5,000 and $8,000, he said.
But two years ago, that wasn’t the case.
The cost to the city last time was $95,000. About $75,000 went toward fixing damaged infrastructure.
In addition to the water main, the city had to repair the street lights at the intersection, hydro transmission line, ducts, sidewalk, curb, gutter and road. The other $20,000 was spent on administration and management of the incident.
The water main is between 60 and 80 years old, Schell said, but water mains typically last about 100 years.
Although he said the two breaks are unrelated, “…it could be getting to the point where the pipe is aging.”
The boiler in the building — which also houses Impression House and Man’s World Hairstyling and Barbering in addition to Gourmet Station — was damaged by the more than two feet that was down there Sunday night, said Impression House manager Carey Frantz, whose father owns the building.
Bob Frantz said in August 2013 that his insurance company pegged the repairs required to the building after the water main broke the first time at $165,000 after 10 feet of foundation collapsed.
Tuesday, Care Frantz said the water from the second water main break had been cleared out of the basement and that she has contacted the insurance company about it
The boiler should be replaced by the end of the week, she said, and in the meantime, Impression House, open both Monday and Tuesday, is relying on electric heaters.
Man’s World is closed Sundays and Mondays, but was open on Tuesday as well.
“We’re very cold in here, but we’re working,”’ said Man’s World’s Teresa Whitney..
“We’ve got little heaters going everywhere and we’ll get through this.”
Gourmet Station, which needs hot water to operate, was closed Monday and Tuesday and will remain closed until the boiler gets fixed.
The Wheelers had only been in business for 10 days when the water main broke the first time. They had been in the middle of taking inventory to secure their insurance policy and didn’t have any coverage.
The majority of their equipment was damaged by the cold in the weeks after because power to the building was cut. They estimated they lost about $30,000 in equipment and stock and paid for it all themselves.
This time they do have coverage, including for interruption to their business.
The Wheelers no longer store much in the basement.
“I really wasn’t keen on storing anything down there after the last time,” Wheeler said, with a laugh.
Businesses impacted, again, by burst water main
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