water main break near Bowness Road in Calgary

A Calgary official says a water main break has closed a road and left some homes and businesses dry, but says it is not related to a feeder main rupture earlier this year in the same area of the city that resulted in months of water restrictions.

Ryan Kidd, the city's deputy director of water services, says the recent break happened in a smaller, 250-millimetre cast-iron distribution line that serves the immediate area, which is near Bowness Road and 51 Street Northwest. Kidd says water began bubbling up at street level on Sunday night and crews immediately shut down the line for repairs, adding the city typically gets water restored for affected customers within 48 hours. A massive water main supplying 60 per cent of the drinking water for Calgary ruptured June 5, and Calgarians were urged to cut their indoor water use by 25 per cent amid a state of local emergency.

Crews later found more breaks in the feeder main that needed repairs, and it wasn't until late last month that restrictions on outdoor watering with potable water were finally lifted. Kidd says the water main that broke on the weekend was installed in 1959, and he says Calgary usually has over 200 such breaks in a typical year.