Nova ScotiaA boil-water order is in effect for some communities around Dartmouth, N.S. This affects people who live along Waverley Road, Avenue du Portage, Montague Road, Spider Lake and the neighbourhoods of Port Wallace, Montebello and Craigwood Estates. Emergency repairs to a water main on Waverley Road happened Saturday nightListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Crews were still on the scene Sunday after a water main on Waverley Road broke Saturday. (Giuliana Grillo de Lambarri/CBC)A boil-water order is in effect for some communities around Dartmouth, N.S., after a water main broke on Waverley Road on Saturday.According to Halifax Water, around 2,000 service connections are under the boil-water advisory, impacting people who live along Waverley Road, Avenue du Portage, Montague Road, Spider Lake and the neighbourhoods of Port Wallace, Montebello and Craigwood Estates.The Halifax Regional Municipality is opening a comfort centre from 2:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the East Dartmouth Community Centre for residents affected by the water main break. The municipality says it will be determined if the comfort centre will need to reopen on Monday.Washrooms and showers are also going to be made available for residents at Cole Harbour Place and the Zatzman Sportsplex. Reached by telephone, a Halifax Water spokesperson did not say how long the boil-water order is expected to last.Cause of water main break unclearThe order comes after emergency repairs to a water main on Waverley Road in Dartmouth on Saturday night. A spokesperson for the water utility said in an email that the cause of the water main break is not clear, but factors such as “the type of pipe material and age, soil chemistry, and the effects of frost and temperature” could have contributed. “Crews began to isolate the break last night and were able to reduce the number of customer connections with no water service to approximately 75 connections,” said the utility on Sunday. “Halifax Water is working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service to these customers.”The utility said early Sunday morning that as water returns, residents who had no water after 1 p.m. AT on Dec. 6 should boil their water for at least one minute before drinking, cooking, preparing infant formula, making ice cubes or juices, washing fruits or vegetables, or brushing teeth. If the water is discoloured, people should run it until it’s clear.Jake Brenner says he and a group of neighbours tried to redirect the water away from the houses. (Submitted by Jake Brenner)Jake Brenner lives near where the break happened, and says he was at home on Saturday afternoon when he noticed something unusual. “I thought I was, like, in a dream from what I was seeing. It just looked like there was a full on river in the front of our house,” he said. “It got pretty intense. And so I went right into survival mode. I strapped on my big boots and I got out there.”He and some neighbours started creating improvised barricades using sandbags and plywood to redirect the water away from any houses to avoid water damage. Brenner says his partner alerted the water utility, and they sent a team right away. But he says it took hours before the water finally stopped coming down the road. Brenner says that he never lost his water connection, but he still went to the store to grab some bottled water just in case, and is following the boil-water advisory. Coun. Tony Mancini says he and other people in the area are without water. (Giuliana Grillo de Lambarri/CBC)Coun. Tony Mancini, who also lives in the area, says he did lose water, and so have other neighbours. He says a crew of about 16 people from the water utility worked overnight to fix the issue, and another crew came in the morning to continue the repairs. “We do take water for granted, right? We turn on the taps, you don’t think about it. And all of a sudden when we turn it on, it’s not there,” he said. MORE TOP STORIES ABOUT THE AUTHORGiuliana is a journalist originally from Lima, Peru. She is interested in stories about rural Nova Scotia, science, the environment and more. If you have any story tips, you can reach her at giuliana.grillo.de.lambarri@cbc.ca. with files from Meig Campbell
Boil order in effect, comfort centre to open after Waverley Road water main break
