Barrhead town council approves repair to industrial water reservoir

BARRHEAD - The Town of Barrhead is facing a six-figure repair bill to fix a leak in the waterline to the industrial water reservoir.

Councillors approved the $100,000 repair following a Sept. 10 in-camera session. The money will come from the capital water reserve fund.

Chief administrative officer Edward LeBlanc told the Barrhead Leader following the meeting that last year, the municipality upgraded the industrial reservoir.

As part of the process, the municipality installed a new feeder line from the reservoir to the pumphouse and decommissioned or blocked off the old line.

"We've noticed that the old line is leaking, so we will have to go in and patch it from inside the reservoir," LeBlanc said. "Our engineers suspected a leak last year but confirmed it this summer."

He added that the town's engineering consulting firm recommended that the repairs occur when the reservoir is full.

Which LeBlanc said would not be a problem as the reservoir is currently at or near its capacity.

Earlier this summer, from July 10 to July 25, the municipality asked residents to conserve water, imposing water restrictions such as closing its bulk water station and limiting the hours of the splash park.

"[The restrictions] had nothing to do with the leak," LeBlanc said. "It was a bit of a perfect storm. We had a period of extremely hot weather, and farmers were still spraying."

However, he said it took only a short time after the water restrictions were lifted until the reservoir returned to normal levels.

The repairs will start sometime this fall. A timeline for completion is unknown, but LeBlanc said they would be completed this year, and residents would not have to change their water consumption habits.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com