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Preparations to open the Rideau Canal Skateway are underway, as a deep freeze continues to linger around Ottawa this weekend.
Though the ice flooding has started, the ice is still thin, the National Capital Commission (NCC) told CTV News Ottawa in a statement, hoping that cold temperatures stay for few more days for the preparations to continue.
“Last night (Saturday night) our teams flooded a section of the Rideau Canal Skateway between Hawthorne Street and Bank Street,” the NCC said in a post on Instagram.
“They use pumps to draw water from below the ice to flood the surface and help build the ice thickness needed to safely open the Skateway.”
The NCC says the ice needs to be 30 centimetres thick before it’s safe for skating.
“Stay off the ice!”
Early ice flooding helps to build ice faster, the NCC adds. It says this strategy is being used as a method to adapt …
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