Residents of a large section of Pierrefonds remain without water on Monday, more than 48 hours after a pipe burst in the borough.
The pipe burst early Saturday morning on Pierrefonds Blvd. near Paiement St., and water is still flowing from the pipe. Crews in the borough were unable to turn off valves leading to the broken section, and so have installed pumps to drain water and direct it to sewers.
Crews are also working at a second location, on St. Charles Blvd. and Major St.
People living north of Pierrefonds Blvd., between St. Charles Blvd. and Jacques Bizard St., said they lost water either on Saturday or Sunday.
Residents said they were frustrated by the lack of communication by the borough, with many being unaware the city was distributing water to residents at the Pierrefonds Cultural Centre on Gouin Blvd.
Workers initially told CTV News that a 20-inch (50 cm) pipe had broken, but on Monday, borough officials said it was only a six-inch (15 cm) pipe.
Borough Mayor Jim Beis said he was frustrated with the lack of progress, but said crews had been working hard to find the source of the problem.
"Since Friday our teams have been working nonstop to look at up to 20 valves that are in this immediate area, in order for us to turn off the water flow and to repair the work," said Beis.
Unfortunately those crews still were not able to find the correct valve, and so on Monday workers from the central city arrived in Pierrefonds to locate a master valve.
"They will be addressing the issue immediately to make sure that we turn off the main water flow and carry out the work we need to do," said Beis.
The assumed that once the water to the broken pipe was turned off, it would only take two hours to replace the pipe and restore water flow, but as it turned out, the repair was complicated.
Beis said the repair is more serious than predicted since a valve will need to be changed.
Work could go into the late evening and possibly into the night, said Beis.
