A Westway Avenue water main broke early this morning causing the roadway's concrete to buckle at the Juniper Crescent intersection and sending several inches of water gushing down Valleycliffe's main artery.
"You could paddle a kayak down the street," said Westway resident Al Price.
The District of Squamish received a call at 3 a.m. that one of their alarms went off, and a worker inspecting the Westway area noticed water bubbling to the surface, said the municipality's new manager of operations, Bob Smith.
"It was a 10-inch main, so a fairly large line," he said.
The hospital and bottom end of Valleycliffe went without water while the crews throttled the line, said Smith, and by around 8 a.m., all buildings were back to normal.
By this afternoon, the newly replaced section of line was fully functional, said Smith.
District workers on site said the pipe section crumbled for no discernible reason, however the 1970-era asbestos concrete pipes were brittle.
The new section of pipe is made of PVC and also has a new isolation valve, which workers can access via a key in the roadway to contain flow.
"A lot of the old distribution systems went significantly long ways before they put isolation valves in them," he said. "So [the new isolation valve] helps us control flow and if we have a problem again, it can help us deal with these kind of issues."
Meanwhile, Price said, his basement was flooded and he's in the process of filling out a district claims form for damage.
He said the incident is simply another symptom of the district's on-going neglect of Valleycliffe.
"The storm drains have been blocked here for two or three years and they're filled right up with gravel," said Price. "We reported it a number of times and they won't touch it."
Price pointed to the on-going debate in council chambers over priorities for Valleycliffe as an example of resident needs being dismissed.
"These guys have had a mission from God that they're going to put the bicycle lanes down and the residents have been telling them 'Look there's things we need more than that like getting proper sidewalks and curbs and getting the storm drains maintained,'" said Price.
Last November, community development director Mick Gottardi presented council with results of a survey asking opinions on four options for Westway Avenue.
It showed 41 per cent wanted new sidewalks, 26 per cent wanted the road as is, 24 per cent wanted bicycles lanes during peak hours only, nine per cent wanted bicycle lanes with no parking.
District staff recommended bike lanes during peak hours and parking spots the rest of the time.
At the time, Lonsdale opposed the recommendation saying, more than 75 per cent of attendees did not want that option. She suggested further additional community input, however Mayor Greg Gardner said another round of input would push the project beyond the Feb. 15 deadline.
The bike lane and parking option passed with staff encouraged to gather community feedback.
Gardner was not available for comment.
