CHEO without water, elective surgeries cancelled after water main severed

Ottawa·New

CHEO, eastern Ontario’s children’s hospital in Ottawa, is without water or air conditioning after a water main was severed during construction near the hospital’s front entrance early Tuesday afternoon.

Some clinical visits cancelled for the day, no air conditioning at hospital

A big hole full of water at a construction site.
Workers look on as water fills a hole at a construction site at CHEO, eastern Ontario’s children’s hospital in Ottawa. The rupture occurred around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18, the hospital said. (Stu Mills/CBC)

CHEO, eastern Ontario’s children’s hospital in Ottawa, is without water or air conditioning after a water main was severed during construction near the hospital’s front entrance early Tuesday afternoon.

CHEO issued a “code grey” at 12:30 p.m. Those are initiated “following the loss of a critical system,” according to a standard alert system.

In a news release issued later in the afternoon, the hospital confirmed its access to water for clinical care, cooling, drinking water and restroom facilities had been disrupted.

Elective surgeries and some clinical visits have also been cancelled for the day, CHEO said.

Videos posted online show water gushing from a pipe next to an excavator. Photos taken around 3 p.m. appeared to show water was no longer flowing from the severed pipe.

EllisDon is the construction contractor at the scene, while the firm Aquatech confirmed they’d been called in to help with the cleanup.

With files from Nathan Fung, Stu Mills

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