From Rosemont to Carroll Park to Canton, the Department of Public Works is addressing hundreds of water-related 311 service calls for water leaks and lack of water due to frozen pipes.

“Our crews are trying to catch up on a backlog of water leaks caused by the cold snap,” said DPW spokesman Jeff Raymond today.

“Maintenance crews from the Bureau of Water and Wastewater are working 12-hour shifts in order to get to more outages sooner. We are also utilizing our private contractors to help expedite the repairs,” he added.

Raymond could not provide a timeline for when issues would be addressed.

More than 300 Requests

“We don’t know exactly what we are dealing with until we excavate the pipes. In this weather, with so many calls coming in, it’s even harder to estimate when we will get to a leak and get service restored,” he explained.

He said he was told yesterday that DPW had receive about 300 water-related requests.

“Many have turned out to be frozen pipes on the customer’s side. We cannot do anything about that, but we strongly encourage residents to take a few simple steps to prepare their homes to prevent or at least be prepared for outages,” he said.

Information, including how to prevent and address frozen pipes, can be found here.

“We want to get service restored almost as badly as our customers who are being inconvenienced. Our crews are doing a tough job in tough conditions. Please bear with us.”