Morden dealing with spring water and potholes

With the official start of spring only days away, the weather is creating the usual challenges for the city of Morden public works department.

"We have the freeze-thaw cycle happening every day and changing from week to week," said Tim Reimer, Director of Operations.

"One week we think we're in spring and the next week we get 10 centimeters of snow and minus 15C temperatures. It's putting quite the stress on our drainage system. Just when we think we have everything flowing nicely it nicely freezes up for us. Drains are frozen, water backs up, people are getting anxious because we've got standing water everywhere. Crews are hard at it. We're trying to keep the drains open but there's only so much we can do."

Keeping the water at bay in early spring is always a work in progress.

"The biggest thing is we ask for the public’s patience. It all takes time when you're looking at thawing drain lines. The other thing is, when you do see the crews working out on the street, please take caution when you're driving around them, walking around them, stuff like that."

Reimer says for the most part, many people are being nice and cautious when approaching work crews.

"But we do get the odd vehicle that could be a little more cautious."

If dealing with the water isn't enough, city crews are also dealing with potholes.

"That's never a pleasant time," admits Reimer. "With it freezing and thawing, we're getting a lot of potholes showing up. Crews are out quite heavily also trying to keep up with those. 

Residents can report potholes to the public works office with a phone call or by using the form on the city website. 

~With files from Robyn Wiebe~