Old infrastructure hampers Yonge Street watermain repair; area still closed

Businesses without water as crews fix pipes A broken water main closed a section of Yonge Street in the downtown core Thursday, with crews hoping to reopen the road Friday.

A section of Yonge Street that has been closed due to a water main break is unlikely to reopen in time for the afternoon rush hour and may remain closed into the early morning hours.

All southbound lanes on Yonge Street have been closed south of King Street since the water main break was first reported at around 2:30 a.m.

Toronto Water was on scene this morning and managed to shut off the water but Director of Distribution and Collection Bill Shea told reporters this afternoon that crews may not be able to fix the water main until after midnight.

“It is larger main, a 12 inch main, and often that is generally a more difficult repair and at this point we don’t know what that repair is even going to look like,” he said. “We are looking probably now at eight to 12 hours.”

Shea told reporters that the broken water main is made of cast iron pipe and likely dates back to the 1880s or the 1890s, making it one of the oldest in the city.

He said that cast iron pipes of that age “are very thick and can last for a long time” but are also “quite brittle.”

“If you get a shift in the ground they will crack and the majority of our breaks with cast iron pipes are a crack, where the ground has shifted,” he said.

The TTC says the 320 Yonge bus is diverting northbound via Front Street, Church Street, and Richmond Street, and southbound via Adelaide Street, Church Street, and Wellington Street.

TTC spokesperson Kadeem Griffiths said the water main break is not impacting subway service.

“The Melinda Street exit to King Station will be closed but inside the station, our drains down there are actually doing their jobs pretty well so it don’t have any impact on subway service,” he said. “Worst-case scenario we will have to bypass the station but we are not looking at that right now.”

Shea said that a number of offices buildings in the vicinity of Yonge and King streets are without water following the water main break.

He said that officials are “assessing” whether they can redirect water to the buildings from another main, though he said it may take longer to do that than it would to fix the cracked main.

“If it takes longer to do that than get the repair done, then it is not worth it,” he said.