SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Without warning, residents of Northland Trailer Park were without water for four hours Tuesday afternoon, causing a number of water lines to freeze.

Northland residents were without water for four hours Tuesday afternoon after RTL Robinson Enterprises shut down water service to the neighbourhood in an attempt to repair a ruptured water line. A large pit had been excavated from a water main site on Bellanca Avenue when Yellowknifer arrived at about 8 p.m. Tuesday. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

RTL Robinson Enterprises, the contractor hired to fix a water line break that happened Feb. 13, turned off the water around 3 p.m. without informing the condominium board, said Wade Friesen, vice-president of Yk Condominium Corporation No. 8.

"They had the city shut the water off and never informed the board or the park manager or the residents and it ended up taking longer than they anticipated and it was right through the entire supper hour, so that pissed off a lot of people," he said Wednesday morning.

Friesen said he knew nothing about RTL starting work on the line until he started getting phone calls from residents around 3 p.m., and by the time the water came back on around 7 p.m., he had received 26 calls.

"Most times when the water is shut off, it's an emergency and we can't give people 24 hours notice because there is a major break that's gotta be shut off immediately," he said. "But yesterday could have for sure have been avoided with a little bit better communication from the contractors to the board or to the park manager even."

Stephanie Rudderham from RTL Robinson Enterprises refused to comment.

Friesen said because the water was shut off for so long in -20 C weather, his water lines froze, along with many others in the park.

Water line breaks, like the one being fixed on Bellanca Avenue Tuesday, are nothing new for residents of trailer park. The park usually has two major breaks a year, said Friesen. Last February, the park had one of its largest, costing around $100,000 in repairs.

The whole underground infrastructure of the trailer park needs to be replaced, as it's 15 years past its life expectancy, but the condominium corporation, which owns the infrastructure, doesn't have the estimated $18 million to pay for the project.

About 1,100 people, or approximately seven per cent of Yellowknife's population, live in the park in 258 homes.

"This is the biggest pocket of affordable housing in Yellowknife," said Friesen. "And as such, there's a lot of people that really can't afford to pay the full cost for the infrastructure replacement."

With help from both the city and the territorial government, the corporation applied for funding from the federal government last summer, but has yet to hear back.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem, who has been working closely with the condominium board, said the city will include the park in its regular maintenance program once new infrastructure is in place.

"Once the infrastructure is replaced, the city will take it over forever," he said. "That's what happened at all the other condominiums as they were being set up. (At) Northland that didn't happen because it was set up a bit differently."

Because of the failing infrastructure, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation stopped insuring mortgage loans for homes in the park last April.

Mortgage loan insurance is usually required by banks when home buyers make a down payment of less than 20 per cent on a house.

"Without them insuring mortgages, nobody can get financing, so everybody's been stuck in their homes since last May," said Friesen. "We're seven per cent of the population held captive to our homes right now, so we're doing everything we can to make sure the infrastructure gets replaced so we can move on, but money is the big issue right now."

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