Low temperatures leave Chisinau residents without water

The temperatures of minus 16 degrees Celsius caused leakages on a number of streets in Chisinau. Twenty-seven branch pipes in the private sector got frozen, Info-Prim Neo reports. In the January 30 meeting of City Hall officials, Vitalie Midari, deputy technical director of SA “Apa-Canal Chisina” said the gray pig iron pipes are in a bad state. 60% of the over 1 800 km of pipes are worn-out. Thus, the leakages of water are inevitable, especially in winter. There were 16 disconnections from the water supply on the weekend. The company’s employees worked nonstop to remove the consequences of the accidents. The dwellers of a building located on Ion Testemitanu St are still without water, but the supplier assured that the problem will be fixed by the end of the day. Repair works were performed on the 27 branch pipes in the private sector that got frozen. Almost all of them were repaired. Vitalie Midari said these pipes are situated at a shallow depth and are not appropriately insulated. Weather forecasters issued a yellow code warning covering this week. Temperatures are expected to drop to minus 24 degrees Celsius. The employees of “Apa-Canal Chisinau” are ready to intervene promptly when necessary. Fourteen teams of workers will work nonstop in case of emergency. Last year, SA “Apa-Canal Chisinau” allocated from its own funds 21.5 million lei for renovating the water and sewerage system, 37 million lei for extensive repair works and 28 million lei for maintenance works. There were repaired about 29.5 km of water pipes and approximately 1.9 km of sewer pipes.