Halifax hospital to return to normal operations on Monday after water main breaks

CITYnews halifax / By Mark Hodgins

Some normalcy returned at the QEII on Friday afternoon after a challenging week that saw the Halifax Infirmary site go without heat and running water for nearly two days.

A water main break on Wednesday knocked out water service to the hospital buildings. That was repaired, but the same pipe broke again early Thursday morning.

Nova Scotia Health said visitor restrictions had been lifted as of Friday afternoon, and it planned a return to full, normal operations at the QEII on Monday.

Water and heat was restored to the hospital late Thursday, but the health authority said three days of testing would be needed to make sure the water was safe to drink. The fire suppression system still wasn’t working as of Friday afternoon, so “enhanced fire monitoring” was to remain in place heading into the weekend.

The water outage led to cancelled surgeries and appointments at the hospital.