Multiple businesses, homes affected by new water main break in Calgary

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The repaired Bearspaw southern feeder main continues to operate well and meet demand while the City of Calgary repairs another break in Montgomery.

On Friday, a smaller, 10-inch diameter water main burst in the 5100 block of Bowness Road NW, knocking out power to 14 homes and 10 businesses.

According to Nancy Mackay, director of the city’s water department, a portion of the road in both directions near the break is temporarily closed for repairs, which are expected to last about 48 hours.

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“Although this fracture is located near the Bearspaw south feeder main, it is not directly connected to the feeder main – and is located on a much smaller 10-inch cast iron pipe,” Mackay said Saturday.

The smaller break will not affect the flow of water through the main, which is still at 70 percent of its maximum capacity, nor will it affect the city’s ability to meet water demand.

“Pipe bursts of this magnitude are not uncommon. Calgary has nearly 15,000 kilometres of underground water infrastructure as part of our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems,” Mackay said.

She noted that Calgary has one of the lowest average disruptions per 100 kilometres compared to other major Canadian cities, but acknowledged that the number of disruptions is “slightly higher” than normal.

“We expect to see some additional outages as the system responds to the changes we’ve made to restore water flow,” she said.

Montgomery resident Robert Neshine saw water rise several inches next to the foundation of his home after the main line burst on Friday.

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His house was also among those without water early Saturday afternoon.

“It’s horrible. The toilets won’t flush? You have to drag water in yourself. It’s not great,” Neshine said.

The city has deployed a temporary water truck to his block, which, to his knowledge, had water during the supply line crisis until this minor break occurred.

Neshine noted that when the supply line broke on June 5 – just a few hundred yards away – there was no noticeable odor, but that after the rupture there was a strong odor emanating from the site.

Yejin Kim, manager of Yum Yum BBQ on Bowness Road, was one of the few businesses near the Friday lunch hour that was open on Saturday, despite no running water.

A few doors down in the same shopping center had a closing notice on the door, citing the burst pipe as the cause.

Kim said they hadn’t had any problems until Friday, when they noticed the water pressure was low.

“There were fire trucks and stuff, we were wondering what was going on,” Kim said. “After (a) couple of hours, one of the workers came up to us and told us something was broken.”

She said the water crisis as a whole has had a major impact on their business, as fewer customers come and go due to the closures.

“We have never been so slow in the last few days. Today is our quietest day,” said Kim.

“It’s just really frustrating that this problem keeps happening in this area. I just hope they can fix it soon.”

Calgary remains under Stage 2 water restrictions, but it is possible the city could move to Stage 1 on Monday if all continues to go well.

As of 8 a.m. Saturday morning, the city had not discovered any new cable breaks along the main line, Mackay said.

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