The city has a mixture of old metal pipelines and new plastic ones, a city staffer said. Rosnani Musa/Dreamstime.com

By Eli J. Ridder

IN THE CITY

Medicine Hat prepared if rapid warming causes pipeline break, city says

Feb 20, 2025 | 5:13 PM

The city is prepared in the case that Medicine Hat’s mainline water pipelines break amid a rapid shift in temperature this week, a key staffer says.

Acting field operations manager James King said Thursday that sudden warmth after frost has settled into the soil could cause issues.

“Historically, what we’ve seen with water mains is they potentially might be in jeopardy of the ground shifting,” King said.

Single-digit temperatures are expected in Medicine Hat on Friday before hitting 12 C on Saturday, according to an Environment Canada forecast.

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The warming follows weeks of freezing temperatures that often hit -30 C and triggered extreme cold warnings that remain in place even on Thursday.

The city keeps tabs on soil conditions through six frost monitoring stations set at different levels underground.

In the case that a pipeline breaks, city crews will follow its regular procedures that include identifying where a leak is, sorting out what the broken pipe is made of and notifying impacted residents and businesses.

Any incidents could also cause roadway shutdowns as crews excavate the pipeline ad carry out repairs.

King said the city responds rapidly to a break.

“We’re pretty fortunate. We have internal crews that can respond up to that day,” said King.

King explained that major breaks are rare but are somewhat random when they happen.

“A lot of it is depending on mother nature and what the temperatures are throwing at us,” he said.

“Clearly we’ve had a few weeks of deep freeze temperatures. So we won’t be surprised if we see some type of issues pop up here over the weekend or into next week.”

It’s not just the city’s nearly 500 kilometres of pipelines that could be impacted by frost and warm weather.

King acknowledged water services to residents may be vulnerable.

He said any concerned homeowners should visit the city’s frozen water lines page or call the environment utilities department for help.