UPDATE; Hancock City Manager, Mary Babcock has declared the “Let Run” over. If you were running your water due to freezing pipes or for prevention, it is time to stop letting your water run.
The City of Hancock declared a “let run” for area residences on Friday. The policy suggests that a thin, but consistent stream of water be utilized continuously from at least one faucet within a home to keep pipes from freezing up. Snow provides some insulation to keep ground temperatures elevated, but it is not a perfect buffer as the mercury plummets to -20 degrees, or colder.
In villages like L’Anse, where snowfall is less significant, it is causing problems even for pipes inside homes. Everywhere from crawlspaces to those that run near the exterior wall of the residence. When they burst, the customer and the utility are harmed.
The policy allows for reimbursement as the local utility will automatically assume a certain portion of your utilization is due to the “let run” strategy.