From Daily Updates of late December, to a passing Mention in January; Council misses chance for water issues review at Monday session

Bit by bit more and more of First Avenue West has been torn up as the city
continues to address its waterline concerns in that location in the community

Considering the volume of concern expressed just prior to Christmas, residents of Prince Rupert might have anticipated a bit of an update on how the battle of the city's waterlines is going for the City's Operations department workers and those contractors brought in to help out. 

But as Monday's Council session came to an end, the subject of the city's water infrastructure had made for but a passing comment in the heat of the 25 minutes of Port property value and compensation related oratory, that a brief mention from Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa who worked the water issues into his contribution to the PILT conversation.

Despite having the Operations Director available throughout the near fifty minute session, no one it seems thought of asking how the work was going ...  something that might be useful for the public who watch with interest  daily as the work continues in two of the main locations of concern from December.

The City started out impressively on the information delivery side of things in December when the cold snap brought the city's water lines to the crisis point.  

A hastily arranged Special Council of Session on a Saturday setting the grave tone towards the issue that would dominate the community for the week before Christmas. 

Daily updates provided some guidance as to how the battle was going, until the current emergency seemingly passed just as Christmas Eve arrived, when the Local State of Emergency came to an end. 

Those daily missives from City Hall did secure some additional help from Jennifer Rice the MLA for the North Coast who took the city's infrastructure concerns to both Federal and Provincial officials.

That correspondence seemingly resonating with her counterparts in Victoria, who earlier this week called on the Federal government to partner up with the province and city to address the issues.

So one might have expected some kind of an official update to the situation at the first public Council session of 2023, but none was forthcoming and no one on Council seemingly thought the topic worth pursuing with Mr. Pucci, who was on hand by remote link, should the inquiries have been made.

As it was, the Operations Director did deliver a Major Projects review which offered up some news on the status of the Dam at Woodworth Lake, though no mention of the late December issues was included as a sidebar. 

Mr. Pucci also answered a question on potholes at the end of the Monday gathering, his only nod to the water issues one that noted the city crews were preoccupied at the moment with that work, so pothole efforts were spotty.

As it appears, the road towards remediation for two of the areas does appear to be a lengthy one. 

With Crestview/Applewaite still for the most part closed to traffic as an active work site.  

That is the case for First Avenue West as well, the latter as seen by our photo at the top of the page, is  a project that is starting to resemble the McBride Street one of the summer. 

Something where what was a broken pipe, now it seems is turning into a major reconstruction project, one that features an excavation site now running from Broadwater Industries to the intersection at Pacific Mariners Park.

An update on Monday might have provided some clarity on what's happening and when its anticipated that  all of the affected roadways will reopen.  

As well, Council could have offered up some background on how much the city has had to spend so far towards the issues and if their request for assistance has resulted in anything beyond the letter writing that has taken place.

Not to mention to make note of the provincial support in the ask from Ottawa of this week and to outline how they might plan to contribute the municipal share of the cost burden that the province makes note of.

Monday was a missed opportunity to keep the community informed on an issue that resonates large for residents. 

The status of the water supply and if the previous dangers of December have been significantly reduced.

Until an update comes along, you can review the background of the water woes from our State of Emergency Archive of December and through our larger Major Projects archive page.

More background on Monday's Council session can be reviewed from our Council session archive.