Major aqueduct failure in Montreal caused water shortage at MUHC Friday morning

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) was dealing with a ‘water shortage’ Friday morning, after a major aqueduct failure overnight near the Glen site – and asked people to avoid coming to the MUHC adult emergency room and Montreal Children’s Hospital ER. Ambulances were also being diverted.

The water main break happened around 1:30 a.m. in a pipe running under the intersection of Maisonneuve and Décarie Blvd. Water began leaking onto the roads.

At around 12 p.m. the MUHC said in a press release that the situation was “being resolved.” And by 1 p.m. surgeries were slowly starting up again.

“Technical Services are monitoring the situation as the water pressure comes back and ensuring a safe return to normal. The collaboration with the City of Montreal will continue throughout the day. Clinical services will ramp up over the course of the day, including ER, surgeries and ambulatory services.” 

#WATCH: The water shortage at the MUHC is resolving itself after noon Friday following the major aqueduct failure in the area. Crews have been working on repairs throughout the morning.

READ: https://t.co/VhR1DxgXzJ pic.twitter.com/j1WuRvUlZz

— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) July 12, 2024

Earlier, they had said that issue was having effects on the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Cedars Cancer Centre, the Montreal Chest Institute, the Montreal Children’s Hospital and the MUHC Research Institute.

Ambulances were being diverted to other hospitals, while people who had appointments at outpatient clinics – or for surgery – were asked not to show up on Friday.

At around 7 a.m., city of Montreal crews were able to “control” the break, and the water stopped leaking from the roadway.

“Our priority is to ensure the safety of patients and staff present in the affected establishments. We are working in collaboration with the City of Montreal to restore the situation as quickly as possible,” said MUHC spokesperson Rebecca Burns in a press release.

This has major impacts throughout all clinical services. At the moment:

• All surgeries, except emergency surgeries, have been cancelled or transferred to other hospitals.
• Nearly all ambulatory activities scheduled for this Friday have been cancelled and will be rescheduled, including outpatient visits, endoscopy procedures.
• The majority of patients who have scheduled chemotherapy treatments will receive it today.
• Drinking water is being provided to all patients and staff.
• All systems that rely on water cooling and air conditioning, such as imaging machines, the laboratories and IT systems, are being closely monitored.

“Staff who drive to the hospital and who absolutely must get there must use rue St-Jacques to access the parking lot,” said Burns.

One woman CityNews spoke to that did not wish to be identified said her doctor called and canceled her surgery scheduled for Friday.

“I don’t even have a new date, she’s like, ‘I’m going to call you as soon as we have water, but for now, I don’t know when you’re going to get your surgery,'” she was told.

“I was very sad, obviously, it’s because it’s so hard to actually get a date for a surgery in the health system that is struggling right now and I got lucky because I got a date at least and it’s really bad luck.”

The woman does say she is aware it’s not the hospital’s fault. “These things happen,” she said.

“The Emergency Measures Coordination Centre of the MUHC has already met several times since 3 a.m. this morning, last night, to deal with the situation,” added Gilda Salomone, manager in communications at the MUHC, on Friday morning at the site of the problem. “Drinking water is being provided to all patients and staff and all systems that rely on water cooling and air conditioning such as imaging machines, the laboratories and IT systems are being closely monitored at this moment.”

Phillipe Sabourin, spokesperson for the City of Montreal, said the situation was under control when CityNews spoke to him Friday morning.

“We know for sure it’s a 12-inch water pipe. We have someone to detect the exact location of the break,” he said. “We’re in control of the valve. So, earlier this morning around 7:30 a.m., we shut off the valve in order to pursue our investigation. At this point, we’re still doing a detection for the leaks but we’re not sure what caused it.”

Sabourin added that it will take at least a day to finish the work, but the intersection won’t reopen until the end of the day.

“I know the MUHC had to postpone operations this morning due to the fact that they don’t have enough water. So, this is the highest priority for the city, finding a way to bring back the normal pressure on the network for the MUHC.”

Some Montrealers CityNews spoke to at the Glen site said there had been some visible frustration from patients.

#WATCH: “Made it a bit of an adventure," says Timothy Hill, who spent the morning at the MUHC's Glen site Friday as there was a major reduction in water there due to a water main break down the street.

READ: https://t.co/VhR1Dxhvph pic.twitter.com/A0U202Bzew

— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) July 12, 2024

“Made it a bit of an adventure. There’s a lot of frustration I could see in the waiting room with a lot of the different patients that were there,” said Timothy Hill. “It was a bit of a discomfort, but you know, the staff and stuff was supportive and tried to work around it as much as they could.”

He added that it didn’t affect him personally, but had heard cases of people that showed up that had to cancel their appointments.

“Things like this plague the city very often and it’s a very big setback for people, especially people who need treatment and help that were unfortunate enough to have to reschedule and show it up here and, you know, it makes it very difficult. So the message is try and figure this out as quickly as possible,” said Hill.

-with files from La Presse Canadienne