City crews and contractors were playing a very painful game of whack-a-mole with our water mains over the past week. 

According to local officials, there were 11 breaks since the start of the family day long weekend which has stretch crews and resources thin over the past little while. 

"It's definitely still the old infrastructure," said Manager of utilities for the city of Moose Jaw Darrin Stephanson. "I wouldn't say that it was quiet this year, generally speaking, January hasn't historically been a big month for us on
breaks it starts to pick up in February and into March and the rest of the year. To get a spirt like this is fairly rare for us, we don't get them that often, this many back to back so it does make for some challenging times."

Thanks to quick action from crews and those brought in to help with the situation, Stephanson said about seven of the breaks have already been repaired. Although, there is one that has consumed a lot of time and still needs more attention on 14th Avenue North West and Caribou Street. 

"Obviously when we get 11 in a four or five-day stretch that starts to outstrip what we're staffed to accommodate. The city does look to bring in contractors in these instances to aid us which we have done. There has been one particular break in this group of eleven that has been very difficult to deal with, it has consumed several days of city crews time, trying to shut down the break so we can actually make the repair."

During these situations, the city does provide a few resources to impacted residents such as giving them an option of a temporary water source. 

"The city has one potable water trailer that we pull to the site. Unfortunately, when we get these many outages, there's not a lot we can do to provide varied services for people so we do park it in one location (and) we let people know where it is so that people can access it to get water into their homes."

Stephanson for those who have been affected long term, the city has offered those residents the use of local facilities for things such as showers until the problem can be fixed. 

Here is a list provided by the city of the breaks that have taken place over the past week.

Feb. 15 to 18, 2019 Breaks:

- 1000 block 7th Ave. NW – 2 breaks – both repaired

- 600 block Caribou St. W. – repaired

- 900 block Athabasca St. W. – repaired

- 14th Ave. NW & Caribou St W. – repaired

- Connaught Ave & MacDonald St. – not affecting property owners. Will be repaired the week of February 25, 2019.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 Breaks:

- 1100 block 3rd Ave NW

- 700 block 5th Ave NW

- 10th Ave SW & Vaughan St. – not affecting property owners. Will be repaired the week of February 25, 2019.

Thursday, February 21/19 Break:

- 900 block Normandy Drive – repairs expected to be completed February 22, 2019. The water trailer will be moved to Normandy Drive February 21, 2019.

- 6th & Oxford St W

The city also said the break on 14th Avenue was difficult to repair due to incorrect construction records which lead to faulty and sometimes non-existent valves.