New water main break frustrates NW Calgary residents

As city officials repair another water main break in Montgomery, some affected residents and business owners say they are struggling to get water in the heat.

Municipal teams are on site to new water main break in Montgomery in Calgary that happened Friday night, just one block away from the location of that huge water break of june 5 which restricted the city’s water consumption for five weeks.

The new fault line does not connect to the Bearspaw Feedermain fault line, which forced the city into water restrictions for weeks.

Crews have turned off valves to stop the flow of water to the pipeline, leaving 14 homes and 10 businesses without water due to the heat.

“Well, it was a surprise,” Montgomery resident Conrad Rover told CityNews.

“We just got back from a day of activities yesterday. Overall, it’s super cool. I mean, my wife…she had to go to work this morning without showering, so I know it’s not the end of the world…they have emergency water there. I just hope it gets fixed soon.”

The city says repairs to the new fault line are likely to be completed within 48 hours and that water trucks are on site.

“This incident does not impact our ability to meet Calgary’s current water needs and our water remains safe to drink,” said Nancy MacKay, the city’s director of water services.

“Water main breaks of this magnitude are not uncommon. The number of main breaks we are responding to is slightly higher than we would normally see. We expect to see a few more breaks as the system responds to the changes we have made to restore water flow.”

Christena Callahan, owner of Montgomery-based pet grooming business Canine Cutspet, has been dealing with water restrictions for weeks as she works to repair the area’s water main break.

She finally got some relief with the Current Phase 2 restrictions for outdoor waterbut because of this new outage, she tells CityNews that they no longer have water and the business is closed.

“You know, I mean, the first time it wasn’t that bad for us. This time it shut us down. The city is doing the best they can. So it is, it is what it is,” she said.

“It could have been worse, and hopefully they can fix it soon. And we have our dogs back inside, because with the heatwave everyone wants their dog to be taken care of”

While repairs are underway on this pipe, the city reports that no new cable breaks have been discovered in the Bearspaw Feedermain since additional pumps were turned on.

If all goes well, MacKay expects Calgary to move to the lowest level of water restrictions early next week.