City 'hopeful' some Parkdale residents will be reconnected to water line by next week

More than half of the Parkdale residentsaffected by the water pipe improvement project in the Charlottetown neighbourhood have been connected to arehabilitated line.

Richard MacEwen, manager of the city's water and sewer utility said 76 of 124 customers are now connected.

"We're making great progress. We actually have more than half of our customers ... switched on to the rehabilitated line," he said.

Thewater pipe improvement project began this summerand temporary above-ground pipes were installed to supply water as crews worked on underground pipes in the area.

With delays to the projectand temperatures dipping, last month customers were told to keep their water running to prevent the temporary pipes from freezing.

MacEwen said 48 customers still need to be connected to the rehabilitated pipes, but that could occur as early as next week for some.

"Things are looking very good right now. I'm very hopeful. We're actually a little bit ahead of what we had anticipated."

Frozen lines still a risk

MacEwen said all of the construction work is finished on the project and thatcontractors are now cleaning and testing the new lines.

With cold temperatures approaching, MacEwen is still recommending customers on temporary linesleave onetap running.

"There is the risk of lines freezing, so people do need to maintain flow in the lines."

He said if issues do arise, they should be resolved quickly as fewer customers are on the temporary system.

"Many of them Ibelieve now are seeing a better pressure and a better flow through their lines," he said.

"And there's also the same number of crews to address issues as there was before, and now less than half the number of customers for them to help."

MacEwensaid the project will resume again in the spring to clean up any damage to lawns and roadways.

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