Hundreds of people spend weekend without water at Vancouver's Langara Gardens complex

When PooyanKheirkakh turned on the tap in his South Vancouver apartment Friday, all that came out was a whoosh of air.

A similar scene played out that day forhundreds of residents at LangaraGardens, where a broken water main beneath the aging complex left residents, including the elderly and families withchildren, without running water over the weekend.

It wasthe second time in more than two years that the complex, spread out among four18-storey highrise apartmentsat West 57th Avenue and Cambie Street,has suffered a water main break.

The property management spent Saturday tracing the broken pipe under one of the towers with a camera, and excavating the area.

By Sunday, the City of Vancouver confirmed it provided a temporary water supply via a fire hydrant and the building's contractors completed repairs to restore water to the rest of the building.

'It's not pleasant'

On Saturday,Kheirkakh lugged a pail of drinking water down the street.

"Of course, it's not pleasant," he said. "If it's for one day, fine. But tomorrow, I don't know."

Management staff at the site declined comment, butreferred instead to a notice they said was handed out to residents and posted on the rental officedoor.

The notice said drinking water was available outdoors, and bottled water was available in the apartment building's rental office.

A large truck of drinking water was parked outside the building thatafternoon for residents to use.

Residents collected buckets of water from the complex's four pools for their toilets.

Ken Harmar has lived in the complex for about 10 years. He said the repairs brought back memories of January 2016, when residents also went 24 hours without water due to a broken pipe.

At the time, residents complained about the slow response from management. But Harmar was more sympathetic.

"It's not really their fault. It's just the infrastructure. The building's getting old," he said.

With files from Jon Hernandez