Thousands of residents of a downtown Toronto condo tower — described as the tallest in the country — reacted angrily Saturday when initially told they would be out of water for at least seven weeks.

Water at the Aura tower was cut off at 2 a.m. Saturday when a “booster pump” failed, according to an email to residents from the company that manages the building, ICC Property Management.

“It sucks,” tenant Paris Jeyachamdran, 21, told the Star at midday. “I just went to the washroom at Starbucks.”

Groups of residents gathered in the lobby, angry that representatives from the management company were nowhere to be found. A steady stream of people entered the building lugging stacks of bottled water. Later, word spread that nearby grocery stores were out of bottled water.

“There’s no direction from anyone,” said Leah Hartman, who has rented a one-bedroom unit in the building for the past five years. “They just left us hanging.”

The building, at the corner of Yonge and Gerrard streets, has 80 storeys, according to the website of the tower’s builder, Canderel Residential, which calls it “Canada’s tallest residential condominium.” Residents say the building’s 995 condos are on 79 of those storeys. They estimate the number of residents at about 2,000.

Alla Orlova, 24, an international student from Russia studying finance at Seneca College, made plans to move in with friends in Richmond Hill, noting she can’t spend weeks unable to shower, wash dishes or use her bathroom.

“It’s going to cost me so much extra money,” said Orlova, noting the money she’ll have to spend to commute and share costs at her temporary Richmond Hill residence will seriously strain her budget.

Pranoy De, who pays $3,100 a month for a two-bedroom unit, booked a room at a nearby hotel for the day just so he could shower. “Who can live without water?” said De, 29.

The first management email to residents — the emails were shown to the Star — blamed the pump failure on low water pressure caused by a broken city water main. “These pumps are unique and specially designed for Aura,” the email said. “Repair process takes at least seven weeks.

“We kindly advise residents to find alternatives until we resolves (sic) the issue,” it said, adding that the city “will be held responsible for all damages caused.”

City of Toronto spokesperson Brad Ross later told the Star that the city had been “triple-checking” water pressure in the area after hearing complaints from Aura residents. “We have found no issues related to pressure or water service from the city’s end to the building,” Ross said in an email, adding that there had been no complaints from other buildings.

“Earlier this week, a private contractor damaged the water main in the area, but the city took immediate steps to ensure water service was maintained while we undertook repairs, all of which are happening underground,” Ross wrote.

Just before 11 a.m., residents received a second email from the management company’s representative, Dona Gamage, saying technicians were on site working on an alternative. A man who answered the management company’s emergency phone number — he would only give his name as Yaser — told the Star the plan was to use water from storage tanks.

Yaser said he was in contact with a member of the property management team, and added he would pass on the Star’s request for an interview. The Star did not hear back, and interview requests sent to two email addresses — those that sent out the company’s updates to residents — went unanswered.

The second email said the management company had asked Canderel if it had a replacement pump it could lend the building. “We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused, and expect your understanding and co-operation regarding this matter,” the management email said.

Residents were in disbelief.

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“If this pump is so special, how could they not have a backup or a contingency plan?” said a 29-year-old tenant who would only give his first name, Luke. “Did they think the pump was going to last forever?”

Early in the afternoon, as the Star was interviewing residents in the lobby, a third email landed from the management company: “We are placed (sic) to announce that we found an alternative solution to resolve the issue and water will be restored by midnight today.”

Residents received a fourth email at 3:13 p.m. from the management company, stating that a fitness centre on the building’s fourth floor would allow residents to use the gym’s showers. It added that members of the management team would deliver water bottles in the lobby later in the afternoon.

By evening, two deliveries of bottled water had arrived for residents in the lobby and a third was on the way, but water service had not yet been restored.