The City of Kamloops came very close to enacting a civic State of Emergency due to a number of issues over the weekend connected to the cold snap.

“We did have to open up a department operation centre on Saturday just to deal with the situation as we had multiple facilities with heating issues and/or water lines and then several other things we were dealing with throughout the city,” Darren Crundwell, the City’s Manager of Strategic Capital Integration, told Radio NL.

Crundwell says they also had issues with the city’s main water treatment facility, the Kamloops Centre for Water Quality.

“We had issues with the intake and we actually do have a bigger capital project plan for that,” Crundwell said.

“We were able to keep the operation running but yeah there are some concerns and challenges just due to the age and little things that need to be addressed from a capital projects perspective so we don’t have this issue when it does get cold and we have low water.”

Earlier this year, City Councilors voted in favour of borrowing $10 million to address intake issues at its main water treatment facility, a debt city staff expect to pay off by 2028.

Crundwell says they also dealt with the loss of heat at a number of civic facilities but says most of the problems have now been fixed.

“One of the bigger ones [was] at the Canada Games Pool where we lost heat, but we were able to address that, Crundwell said. “We did have issues with heat and broken lines at Valleyview Arena and had to close that facility though we were able to accommodate most of the users at Valleyview.”

Crundwell also said Valleyview Arena is expected to reopen at noon today, Jan. 15.

#Irony: Due to a frozen pipe, we cannot run the ice plant at Valleyview Arena. 🧊 The arena will be closed until further notice.
📷 Kathleen Fisher pic.twitter.com/5pGZUlZY2r

— City of Kamloops (@cityofkamloops) January 13, 2024

While Environment Canada has lifted a number of Extreme Cold Warnings that were in effect across the Kamloops area last week, it is warning of another significant dump of snow this week.

Crundwell says while most of the problems have been corrected, the City is still keeping a close eye on water and sewer lines as warming temperatures could lead to more breaks when the pipes start expanding.

He notes people can report any issues to the City of Kamloops by calling the Civic Operations Department at 250-828-3461.