Friday, February 27, 2009

City Beat: Burst Watermain Season

Apparently, we're at the start of burst watermain season in Toronto, according to an article in the Sun.

At the heart of the problem is old pipes. We have water delivery pipes in Toronto that are 120 years old, according to the article, and half of our 5,000+ km of pipes are over 50 years old. The city is replacing old pipes, but it is a slow process.

We're also seriously into pothole season. There are some big ones out there! We're expecting the temperature to drop dramatically overnight and I'm sure with the freeze and thaw, we're going to see more and more craters on the roads.

Meanwhile, Toronto taxpayers will be paying $140,000 to support a climate change group in London England.

According to the budget documents, the 40 cities that are part of the group are "committed to tackling climate change" and working together "to share best practices on reducing greenhouse gas emissions." Mayor Miller apparently heads the group. Sharing best-practices on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is fine, and in the scheme of things, $140k is not a lot of money. The question in my mind though, is the role of our city government. I'd rather see the money go to watermains and potholes or road repair or tree planting or park maintenance or community centres, or keeping swimming pools open or maintaining our buses. You get the picture.

3 comments:

Gardenia said...

I hope you are filtering the water coming into your drinking cup!

tshsmom said...

It's the same here. :(

Here, the city is suing the county over where to move a short stretch of road. We taxpayers will pay for BOTH sides of this litigation, while our 50-75 yr old pipes continue to deteriorate.
I say, leave the damn road where it is until you can agree. In the meantime, start replacing the waterlines! Nobody understands priorities anymore.

Candy Minx said...

Yeah, this happened right at the corner last year...businesses managed to survive but the street was a mess for weeks. We had helicopters flying over our building all night when it first broke with tv crews etc.

It's a great opportunity for getting more people working!