A research partnership between the University of Saskatchewan and the City of Saskatoon is looking at how to be better prepared in case of a burst watermain.

Dr. Hamed Samarghandi says when a maintenance issue occurs, it often takes a while to order the parts needed to fix it.

He is currently investigating the likelihood of failure of Saskatoon’s watermain components, as well as the consequences of these failures. The team will then price out these components and weigh out whether or not it would be beneficial to purchase extras in case of an emergency.

“We take into account the impact of inflation, as well. So, if for example, you purchase a part now, as opposed to purchasing it a few years down the road, how much money will you be potentially saving due to the impact of inflation?”

He says the City of Calgary was impacted by a burst watermain this summer, leaving hundreds of Calgary homes without water, and threatening to cancel the Calgary Stampede.

“So, the City (of Saskatoon) is trying to be proactive and make sure that everything for high-risk components in the network, so if a break happens, or when a break happens, they have the components ready to go.”

He hopes to save the city time and money, while also teaching other municipalities how to plan for proactive repairs.