Ice melting and refreezing on Red Deer streets has been “challenging at times” to manage, says the city’s parks and public works manager.
“Of the more or less 140 days of winter so far, we’ve actually had 60 days that have reached above zero temperatures. That introduces a completely different dynamic on snow and ice control,” Greg Sikora told The Advocate on Friday.
“The storm drainage system … has a tendency to freeze when we see this water trickling in and then the cold-air temperatures. We could be out to sites, thawing out the catch basin leads and drains one day, only to come back two or three days later because the overnight temperatures are dropping low enough to refreeze the leads.”
This is very much a seasonal challenge that occurs each year, Sikora noted.
“But what we’re noticing this year is there’s a bit more that’s happening because of the frequent freeze-thaw cycles that have been happening throughout the year,” he said.
“This isn’t just limited to this last week, this has been 60 days over the winter. When you get these warm days, you get water draining into the sewer systems and freezing in place. It’s been an extra challenge for us, but we’re well ahead of it. We run our operations 24 hours a day. We have crews out addressing the drainage issues and doing the best they can.”
City crews use a device that sprays hot water through an extendable rod to melt the ice.
“We basically cut a hole through the ice to get drainage reestablished. If you have an eight- or 10- inch storm lead, we’re not going to thaw out all eight to 10 inches of ice. We’ll start to thaw out a two-inch hole through the centre of that going and then the heat from the water will start melting that ice in the pipe,” he explained.
“The problem that occurs is that if it drains out and the air gets in there if it’s cold overnight, it can re-freeze those pilot holes or perforations in the ice. Then we’re back to maintaining it.”
This year, the city’s parks and public works department has received 350 service requests. Sikora encourages residents to report drainage system blocks on the city’s website or by calling the parks and public works department at 403-342-8238.
“If people let us know where the problems are we expedite our crews to get to that site to address the drainage issue,” he said.
“We see typically two to three weeks in these transition shoulder seasons where we see this frequently. We get on it, clear obstructions and believe it or not, spring cleanup isn’t that far away.”
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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