UPDATED (3:05 p.m.): According to the Town of Collingwood, the drinking water system in Collingwood has returned to normal operations.
"Operators responded quickly and no outages or significant pressure drops were experienced in town," reads an update on the issue sent out at 3 p.m. "At this time, with the predicted rise of temperatures today, overnight and into tomorrow, the re-formation of frazil ice is less likely. Operations will continue to monitor, and the town will notify the public of any further action if needed."
ORIGINAL UPDATE (1:28 p.m.): At 3 a.m., the town’s manager of water/wastewater Peggy Slama was woken up by a call from operators at the Raymond A. Barker water treatment plant, alerting her that something was wrong with the town’s water intake pipe.
This morning (Jan. 22), the Town of Collingwood announced that frazil ice was the cause of operational issues at the plant, and the town made the decision to stop moving water to its customer municipalities (New Tecumseth and the Town of the Blue Mountains) temporarily while the issue is sorted out.
The town also called on Collingwood residents to limit their water use for the day.
“It’s stressful when you get the first call, but really the operators have to spend time to monitor the situation,” said Slama in an interview on Wednesday.
According to a notice posted by the town on their website, operators are continuing to work to resolve the issue however, at this time, treated water production is limited. The town is asking residents to limit their water use to help preserve the town’s stored water in the event of a fire emergency.
“We appreciate any action you can do such as saving your wash loads for another day and limiting toilet flushes and showering,” notes the notice.
Frazil ice is the thin layer of ice that forms on open water, usually on clear nights when the water and air temperatures plummet. It consists of loose, randomly oriented needle-like ice crystals. Frazil ice sinks, quickly increase in size and easily adheres to structures.
Slama said this isn’t the first time frazil ice has caused an issue at the water intake pipe at the plant. She points to other instances in February 2021, in 2013 and 2014. However, she said she doesn’t think the town has asked residents to limit water use before out of those instances.
“It was very precautionary. We opted to (be cautious) just in case,” said Slama.
When asked whether the construction on the water treatment plant or the current plant nearing its capacity had any impact on what happened today, Slama said the issue was caused purely be environmental factors. She said operators can watch for signs that it’s happening, but there’s little they can do to prevent it.
“It’s really the condition of the environment with very cold temperatures,” she said. “Ice super freezes in this random formation and sinks rapidly. It likes to cling to things, such as our intake pipe.”
According to the notice, the town will provide an update on the situation at 3 p.m. today.