THUNDER BAY — For some of the biggest owners of rental properties in Thunder Bay, scarcely a day goes by that they aren't hearing about water leaks in one or more of their apartment buildings.
Homeowners across the city started complaining about pinhole leaks in copper water pipes about a year ago.
Suspecting a link to the recent addition of sodium hydroxide to the water supply as a corrosion control method, the city announced at the end of January 2020 that it would cease the practice.
Since then, however, leaks haven't stopped, prompting some homeowners to plan a demonstration outside City Hall later this week.
On Monday, representatives of Red River Holdings and Dawson Properties – which own dozens of buildings with hundreds of apartments – both spoke out about how they and their tenants have been equally inconvenienced by pinhole leaks.
"It started in November 2019 and it hasn't stopped. It's been terrible," said Peter Buffone, director of finance for Red River Holdings.
Buffone said the situation got to the point where the company needed to hire its own full-time plumber to try to keep up with repairs in the 700 units that it owns.
In a preemptive move, it also decided to replace the main supply lines in its properties with plastic pipes.
But the damage caused by water leaks means Red River's expenses don't stop with installing new lines.
"We've had copper pipe replacement, drywall replacement, and carpet replacement. You name it, we've done it. Kitchen cabinets as well," Buffone told Tbnewswatch.
In some cases, countertops and laminate flooring have had to be redone.
Buffone said the focus on water leaks has forced the postponement of other upkeep.
"We've had a lot of projects we've had to put off, like renovating an apartment. This has basically consumed us."
As of Monday, the tally in just four of Red River's buildings is over 300 separate leaks going back to last year.
The lion's share has been in two high-rises – Red River Towers and Bayview Towers.
Buffone said tenants "are always on edge," worrying there's going to be a leak in their home.
There were four new leaks this past weekend alone.
Buffone noted that most of Red River's properties were built between 1970 and 1995. Interestingly, there have been no leaks in the couple of buildings it owns which were constructed in the 1960s.
Dawson Properties operates 34 apartment buildings across the city.
Spokesperson Bruce Henderson said "We have a leak every day...for the last eight months. It used to be on the north side, and then it just spread all over the community."
Henderson added "We thought it would subside" when the city stopped putting sodium hydroxide in the water supply, but "it just keeps going."
Most of Dawson's buildings were constructed after 1965.
"It's awful how many repairs we do. We had to shut down [the water service to] two buildings today to repair the leaks," Henderson said.
He said it's arguable that pipes wear out as the years go by, but if that's the case, he believes "the chemical still pushed it over the edge prematurely."
Robert McKenzie, the maintenance supervisor for Red River Holdings, said there's no doubt in his mind the leaks were caused by the sodium hydroxide.
"The coincidence of the timing of the application of the chemical to the sudden appearance of hundreds of leaks, as opposed to [the normal] dozen a year, caused us to make that correlation," McKenzie said. "I'm very confident. You can't have a 3,000 per cent increase in leak rates within the space of one year, and just be due to nothing."
Red River is tabulating its costs, and plans to claim compensation from the city.
Dawson Properties is doing the same.
The city has not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the leaks.
Officials have advised residents there is a process for submitting claims of any kind against the city.
Given the possibility of legal action, administration has advised councillors to be cautious about making any public statements about the issue.
