The number of water main breaks declined significantly during this year’s second quarter compared to the same time in 2019, a reduction that will likely save money at city hall.
There were seven water main breaks from April to June of this year, compared to 22 during the same period last year, a second-quarter report showed.
It’s unbelievable that those breaks stayed so low during that time, city manager Jim Puffalt said during the recent city council meeting. That’s exciting because, from what he’s heard, that has never happened before in Moose Jaw.
“… we’ll see in the financial records that we’re saving money because we’re not doing repairs. We’re pretty pumped about that and we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he added.
Public works department
During this year’s second quarter the public works and utilities department diverted 13.3 per cent of all recycling material from the landfill, the report said. That is a slight decrease from 15.1 per cent during the same time last year.
In real numbers, the amount of recycling materials collected during this year’s second quarter was 371,022 kilograms, compared to 416,435 kilograms during the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the landfill accepted 11,587.79 tonnes of refuse from April to June, which is an increase of 1,348.6 tonnes from the same time last year.
The amount of refuse collected from residential homes was 2,439.02 tonnes, compared to 2,247.97 tonnes in Q2 of last year. The amount of garbage the landfill accepted from private organizations increased to 3,524.58 tonnes from 2,068.74 tonnes last year, while garbage collected from commercial declined to 5,624.19 tonnes from 5,922.48 tonnes in Q2 last year.
Citizen complaints
The public works department received 1,227 complaints from residents during the second quarter, resolving 1,027 issues by the end of the quarter and having 186 issues that were still outstanding. This represents a resolution rate of 84 per cent.
The top complaints were about garbage, streets and roads, water, sidewalks, recycling, street signs and traffic lights, sewers, and animal control.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Aug. 24.
