CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH – A town in eastern Newfoundland that was running out of water because of a leaking pipe has lifted a state of emergency.
The emergency was declared Tuesday when officials in Conception Bay South discovered the leak had drained most of its water reserves.
By Tuesday night, Mayor Darrin Bent said the town was hours away from running out of water.
The municipality of about 27,000 people asked all businesses to close, and it told residents not to use water for anything but emergencies.
On Wednesday, the town on the eastern outskirts of St. John’s issued a statement saying the St. John’s Regional Water Authority had repaired the pipe, returning the water to adequate levels.
The town’s water conservation order was lifted, businesses were told they could reopen, and residents were warned they might experience water discoloration and pressure fluctuations.
Bent said it was unclear why the 50-year-old concrete pipe failed.
The town has had it share of challenges in recent weeks.
It spent much of August under a state of emergency and various evacuation alerts because of wildfires.
A fire near Holyrood, N.L., about 16 kilometres to the southwest, triggered evacuations in early August. And another fire later in the month, near St. John’s, led to evacuation alerts for parts of the community.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2025.
