The water woes continue for Calgary businesses along Bowness Road after a sinkhole opened up over the weekend due to a water main break below the street.
According to the City of Calgary, the water main ruptured around 10 a.m. Saturday, affecting water distribution to around 20 businesses in the area between 62nd and 63rd Street N.W.
One of those businesses, The Place restaurant, has been closed for three days.
Paul Sipos, who owns the restaurant, believes he’s lost $9,000 in revenue and food that’s had to be thrown out due to the temporary closure.
“My staff would like to come to work because they’ve got bills to pay,” he told Global News. “I have to call my suppliers and say, ‘Don’t process the payments this week because I don’t have any weekend money,’ so I’m going to ask them for another week’s grace.”
Crews have been working on the pipe since Saturday, a city spokesperson said, and a minor repair was completed on the 250 mm water distribution main Sunday.
However, the city confirmed a second leak developed near the original repair location after water pressure was restored.
“Crews are currently back on site and are replacing a small section of the watermain,” a city spokesperson said in a statement.
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“We anticipate completing that repair today and are currently expecting water service to be fully restored by the end of the day.”
It’s a concerning situation for the Mainstreet Bowness Business Improvement Area, after the street held its annual Tour de Bowness bike race and street festival just days before the sinkhole appeared.
The break is another water-related issue that’s impacted Bowness residents and businesses in the last number of months, with the rupture of a similar pipe under Bowness Road back in April.
“It’s been deja vu all over again,” said Kellie Freeman, the BIA’s executive director. “It seems every couple of months businesses are dealing with water main breaks here.”
Despite not requiring water to keep its doors open, shops like Awaken The Gems said the construction in the area has impacted foot traffic, and access for potential customers.
According to Jesse Bain, who opened the store with his wife four months ago, they’ve had to shut down for at least one weekend each month due to impacts from crews working in the area.
“To be a brand new store and be shut down on weekends, which is supposed to be our busiest time, is beyond frustrating,” he told Global News.
A city spokesperson said the break is unrelated to the Bearspaw feeder main, the critical artery which carries 60 per cent of the city’s drinking water.
That pipe ruptured twice in the last two years, most recently in late December, plunging the city into weeks of restrictions on water use and, in some cases, boil-water advisories.
Work is underway to replace the pipe, with construction crews working along 34 Avenue N.W. in Bowness. The goal is to have the project complete by December.
That project is part of more than $1 billion in investments in the city’s water infrastructure since the feeder main’s original break in June 2024.
Ward 1 Coun. Kim Tyers said her hope is more funding is on the way for the “basics” in the upcoming four-year budget, set to be debated in November.
“It just shows us that we need to put more effort and more funding into our water infrastructure,” she told reporters. “I think we should really focus on making sure that residents aren’t getting used to water main breaks.”
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