Fort Simpson (Feb 13/04) - A water pipe ruptured in Fort Simpson leaving the community without water for five and half hours last Thursday.

Fort Simpson mayor Ray Michaud congratulated workers for quickly repairing the problem.

"Sometimes people don't appreciate the situation," he said. "It's not an easy job and I commend the expediency of the repairs."

Workers were forced to shut off the water at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 4 after a 2.5 cm-diameter asbestos-cement pipe broke behind the Friendship Centre.

After the rupture, water quickly flooded the surface, creating a layer of mud and slush, said water plant operator Steve Squirrel.

"It was pretty messy," he said.

Roughly a half-dozen village employees dug through snow and nearly a half-metre of partially frozen earth to reach the broken pipe.

Once there, workers realized the only way to repair the pipe -- which was connected directly to the city's principal water main -- was to shut off the water, he said. Service was restored to the entire village, except for the Friendship Centre and a single residence, by 11:30 p.m.

"We regret turning off the water, but there wasn't any other way," he said.

Most sections of the village's water system can be isolated, removing the need to shutdown the entire system. In this case, however, the rupture was so close to the water plant, there was no way to isolate it said Michaud.

The break was most likely caused by a shift in the soil surrounding the pipe -- something not uncommon in the Fort Simpson area, he said.

There is no immediate plan to replace the roughly 25-year-old asbestos-cement piping under the village because it would be too expensive, said the mayor.