Water a hot gift for people suffering pipe problems during long holiday season cold snap
- Mark Sabbatini
- 58 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Scaled-back Christmas Eve celebrations planned at Eaglecrest and elsewhere; Tlingit and Haida among those providing water to homes that have gone without for days
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Briana Swanson says her Christmas Eve party plans have been reduced to a trickle, much like her water supply.
"It’s going to be just like a quick appetizer to hang out instead of a dinner because I don't know if we'll have a working restroom for people," she said Tuesday afternoon at her home at Thunder Mountain Mobile Park.
The mobile home park has had limited water at some residences and none at others for more than a week, according to residents there and officials involved in water distribution efforts to places in Juneau in need. The current cold spell has set record-low temperatures three of the past four days, prompting the city and other agencies to issue advisories about prevention measures such as letting a slow stream of water run consistently from one faucet.
Swanson said she still plans to invite about 10 family and friends over for the holiday celebration, but in the meantime there’s other difficulties beyond just not being able to cook for the party.
"I’ve got a friend’s place for laundry, the gym for showers and then I boiled some water for doing dishes," she said.
Two workers with Wright Services Inc., which owns the mobile home park and other properties in Juneau, were delivering cases of bottled water to homes in the mobile park on Tuesday afternoon. Attempts to reach the company’s business office in Juneau were unsuccessful Tuesday afternoon.
Swanson said she’s lived in Juneau since 2010 and this is the longest cold snap she can recall. In a trailer a few streets down where the water flow was also reduced to a trickle, Marie White expressed similar sentiments.
"I‘ve never experienced this kind of cold in Juneau, ever," she said.
White, visiting a friend who lives at the trailer during the holidays, said she makes frequent trips to Juneau and used to live in Glenallen, so braving the cold isn't an undue hardship.
"I'm actually doing a load of laundry," she said, adding that "it's going very slow."
Numerous reports from tribal citizens about problems with frozen pipes prompted the opening of a water assistance site on Tuesday by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska at its public safety building at 5750 Concrete Way. Louis Tagaban, a member of the tribe’s public safety team who was helping distribute water, said the site is scheduled to be open Wednesday from 8:30-11:30 a.m. for tribal citizens, but help will be provided later on Christmas Eve and beyond if needed.
"More than likely I’ll be on-call for Christmas," he said.
In addition to handing out cases of bottled water at the public safety building, Tagaban said tribal citizens can fill their own containers with drinkable water from a hose at the site and deliveries will be made to elders unable to pick up water themselves.
Swanson said she didn’t plan to take any of the drinking water being passed out in her neighborhood.
"I don't like taking plastic water and I have a big jug I can slowly refill with my little drip — or go to friends' houses and refill," she said.
The cold is causing different pipe problems at Eaglecrest Ski Area, which has been operating limited hours since Sunday — and canceled the beginning of its holiday schedule last Friday and Saturday — due to a water main break. The resort has halted its food and drink services, and the only restrooms are outdoor portable toilets. The Porcupine lift at the bottom of the mountain has been open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. since Sunday, closing two hours earlier than usual.
However, Eaglecrest plans to be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday and hold its annual Christmas Eve celebration from 3 to 6 p.m., Tracey Sunflower, the ski area’s marketing and events manager, stated in an email Tuesday. It will be in the Porcupine Lodge at the base of the resort.
"Portable restrooms and handwashing stations will remain available outside," she wrote. "While food and beverage service from the Eaglecrest Grill will not be available, holiday snacks and beverages will be provided for guests during the craft portion of the event as originally planned."
Extreme cold is slowing repair work on the water main and also preventing repairs to the snowmaking system after it malfunctioned due to a frozen water line, according to Sunflower.
The forecast calls for the cold snap to end by Christmas Day, but an intense snowstorm period with heavy accumulation is possible during the following days, according to the National Weather Service Juneau.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
