Service Disruptions

You rely on us to provide reliable access to clean and safe drinking water. When emergencies or outages happen, we work to notify you immediately and restore service as quickly as possible.

If you have a water/sewer emergency after-hours, call us at 705-645-6764.
We have staff working around the clock and will notify you if we are aware of issues in your neighbourhood. Planned or known outages or disruptions will be posted on this page.

Fraserburg Road (MR14) - Watermain Repair - Full Road Closure (Bracebridge)

The District of Muskoka's Water and Sewer Department requires a temporary full road closure to repair a watermain.

LOCATION: FRASERBURG ROAD (MR14) at 230 Fraserburg Road (Bracebridge) – full road closure with detour in effect (signed detour through Fairgrounds)

DATE: Wednesday, September 13, 2021 – 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

ACCESS: Road fully closed to vehicular traffic. Detour in effect during closure period.

CONTACT: The District Municipality of Muskoka, Water and Sewer Department - 705-645-6764 or publicworks@muskoka.on.ca

Fall Flushing Activities - September and October

District of Muskoka crews will be performing water system flushing in September and October. During Fall hydrant flushing, District crews turn on the fire hydrants, which releases large amounts of high-pressure water for up to 20 minutes.

There are several benefits - flushing is an important preventative maintenance activity that:

confirms the hydrant is working correctly
assesses the available flow to the hydrant
allows us to deliver the highest quality water possible to our customers
removes mineral and sediment build-up from the water mains

You may notice a slight discolouration or a cloudy appearance of your water, and possibly reduced pressure during flushing. Please be advised that there are no health hazards associated with discoloured water and the water is safe to use and consume. However, please be aware that discoloured water may stain your laundry.

If you notice discolouration, we recommend that you run your cold water through your bathtub tap or another tap that does not have a screen until it clears up. You may also notice puddles in the street, as the water could be flushed onto the roads. Please email us at publicworks@muskoka.on.ca or call us at 705-645-6764 if you have any concerns.

Municipal Drinking Water - Public Water Taps

Municipal Public Drinking Water Tap Locations

Residents can use any municipal public drinking water tap in Muskoka. There are taps located in each area municipality and can be found at the link below.

Map of Public Drinking Water Taps

Prepare for Emergencies

In the case of a water service disruption, it is important to be prepared by taking simple steps to ensure that you and your family have an adequate supply of safe drinking water to see you through almost any interruption in service. In addition, understanding how your system works can help you to make the right decisions in the event of a water supply emergency.

Emergency Preparedness - #AlertMuskoka

Disasters can happen at any time in any community.

Store one gallon of water per person per day for 3 days
As long as municipal tap water is stored in a clean, airtight container and in a cool location, the water should remain safe indefinitely
As a general rule it is recommended to change the emergency water supply at least once every six months

By downloading the Voyent Alert! app and registering, residents and visitors can select to receive notifications from a wide variety of communication channels including mobile apps, text/SMS alerting, email or voice calling. The system will also allow you to create and track multiple locations such as “Kids School”, “Work”, “Cottage” or “Mom’s House”. Any event or communication related to your tracked locations will be forwarded to you along your preferred communication channel(s). Smart alerting capabilities ensure that you will only get notified when a communication is relevant to you or one of the locations you are tracking. More information on our AlertMuskoka page.

Know where your Master Valve is

If there's an emergency, you will need to know this information ahead of time. You can't afford to waste precious time searching while the basement floods or the carpets are drenched.

Most common locations for the master valve are where the main water pipe enters your home, near the washing machine hook-up or near your water heater. Best to check and make certain you and your family know where it is!

Frozen Water Pipes

Insulate your inside pipes - look for pipes on an outside wall in your attic, crawl space or garage

Insulate your outside water pipes with specially designed foam pipe covers or heating tape available from most hardware stores
Heat your crawl space
Open cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate
In extreme cold weather consider leaving a tap open enough to allow a stream of water to flow
Know where your main shut off is located in case of an emergency

Leaving for the winter?

If you are on municipal services, consider having your service shut off at the street and your lines drained
If you are on privates services, arrange for a plumber to winterize your dwelling
Keep your thermostat set at 15 degrees Celsius or higher

Pipes Already Frozen?

If you suspect your pipes are frozen, try using a hair dryer directed where your line enters the home - never use an open flame or torch
Call a plumber, it may take a professional to determine where it is frozen and a thawing machine may be needed
Once it is thawed, leave a tap running

Municipal Services Frozen?

A plumber can determine if the line is frozen on the municipal side and notify the District of Muskoka Water and Wastewater field staff
24/7 contact information is available - see below

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