Lethbridge experiencing downward trend in number of watermain breaks

Watermain breaks are something that we see more often as the mercury drops in our city. The City of Lethbridge says fortunately we are on a downward trend in the number of annual breaks. The city’s Water and Wastewater Operations Manager, Jeff Koshuta, says crews have responded to 25 breaks in 2022. That is down compared to the 35 we experienced in 2021.

“The ten year historical average forbreaks has been about 48. And if we go back 20 years, we see that it’s about 57. So there’s some positive news that the rate payers are experiencing. One of the reasons I feel that the watermain breaks have been decreasing is the water utility does have a proactive asset management program where we try to replace approximately two kilometres of pipe a year. Most of the pipe that’s replaced is older cast iron pipe that’s found in the older neighborhoods. This makes up about nine per cent of our distribution system, or about 57 kilometres.”

City officials say they hope the downward trend of less watermain breaks will continue into the new year.