Employees with Brainerd Public Utilities worked Thursday to thaw a water service line on Ivy Street in north Brainerd, the fourth freeze-up the city has seen this winter.
Scott Magnuson, Brainerd Public Utilities (BPU) superintendent, said this season is shaping up to be a typical one for frozen water lines.
"In a typical year, we'll have 20 (freeze-ups) or so," Magnuson said. "There are a few service (lines) around town that are not buried as deep. The lack of snow this year is not helping, but it's been way warmer than last year."
Last winter's extended cold contributed to about 190 instances of frozen lines throughout the city, Magnuson said, including larger water mains that usually do not freeze. The frigid weather led BPU to declare a water main emergency and ask all residential customers to run water constantly from Feb. 25 through April 15 to help avoid freezing. By contrast, BPU did not receive a single report of frozen lines during the 2012-13 winter.
The freezing began in December last winter which correctly gave the impression it would be a "record" year, Magnuson said. This year, the first freeze occurred Feb. 22, which is about two weeks later than usual.
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The bellwether for frozen lines is Brainerd Glass, 624 Washington St., where Magnuson said the service lines freeze "almost like clockwork" the second week of February. The business's line is located across its parking lot next to a large sanitary sewer. Cold air in the sewer helps to freeze the ground around it, but also causes freezing problems for the water lines.
BPU monitors a thermometer on the lines there each year and checked in Monday to find the lines had frozen over the weekend, following the first report Sunday at a residence on M Street.
Magnuson said unless residents had freezing problems last year, it's very unlikely they'll see problems this year.
"If it's going to freeze, it would have frozen last year," he said.
Still, he urged residents to take precautions, particularly if they are not using water frequently.
"If you're taking a shower everyday, if you're cooking at night and doing dishes and what not, you should be fine," Magnuson said.
Those who live alone or are concerned about usage could run their water in the evenings for an hour or two while watching TV, he suggested, without seeing much of an impact on their water bills.
"If you run it even for four or five hours at night, it's going to cost you an extra 50 cents or something," he said.
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With temperatures predicted in the late-20s for this weekend and the early part of next week, Magnuson expects the freezing to subside.
CHELSEY PERKINS may be reached at 855-5874 or chelsey.perkins@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchChelsey .
