‘Open for business:’ Montgomery shop owners feel impact of water-main break

The city says conserving water is the focus after a major main break. Meanwhile, those nearby say resulting road closures are hurting businesses.

Area business owners and residents say the ongoing closure of a stretch of 16 Avenue N.W. to repair a major break along the Bearspaw South feeder main is hurting business.

They want to remind customers they’re open during construction.

Sports Rent provides winter gear for customers headed west toward the mountains on the Trans-Canada Highway.

The two weeks around the holidays are typically the busiest of the year, according to owner Brian Durkovich.

He says customers are affected by ongoing road closures despite detours meant to help traffic flow.

“Yes, we are open for business. It might be a little trickier to get here, but we are open and ready to serve, so please come down,” he said Friday.

City officials say work to repair the source of the rupture along 16 Avenue east of the Sarcee Trail interchange is underway.

Some affected Montgomery business owners are worried about their bottom lines.

“This is the second time I’ve been affected by the water break,” said Puneet Kaushik, owner of the Nirvana Canna cannabis store as well as a nearby vape shop.

Water restrictions followed for months after the Bearspaw South feeder main collapsed the first time in summer 2024.

Once again, Kaushik is worried the water crisis will keep customers away.

“I request that the city has a break for us to help cover our overhead or forgive us our business improvement tax. I think that would help a lot,” said Kaushik.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas has asked Calgarians to help.

“I want to make a direct appeal to Calgarians to go out and support those small business owners, especially in Montgomery and Bowness,” he said.

“They’re still open.”

Residents of Montgomery, Parkdale, Point McKay and West Hillhurst remain under a boil water advisory.

“It’s a little unfortunate. Hopefully it’s not as bad as last year. Hopefully they can fix it. (I’m) definitely going to buy some water bottles,” said Montgomery resident Kordell Murphy.

Residents across Calgary are asked not to run their taps, dishwashers or laundry machines as often, as the city is under stage 4 water restrictions.

“That feeder main feeds 60 to 70 per cent of the city,” said Kerry Black, associate professor at the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering.

“The rest of the city has to do a really good job at reducing their water use so we don’t put as much pressure on the system.”

City of Calgary officials say the affected pipe is 50 years old.

The summer 2024 incident

A six-and-a-half-foot-tall concrete pipe located beneath 16 Avenue N.W. burst suddenly the evening of June 5, 2024.

That night, water spewed across the road, flooding nearby sports fields.

It was just the start of what officials described at the time as one of the most significant infrastructure failures in recent memory.

A local state of emergency was declared.

Water restrictions were put in place for a lengthy stretch, sometimes requiring Calgarians to completely cease water use and other times requiring them to limit water use to varying degrees.

In the months that followed the break, the city carried out 29 separate repairs along the feeder main.

The final repairs were completed by November 2024.

Today’s problem

Water billowed up from under the road in northwest Calgary on Dec. 30, 2025, causing significant flooding.

It happened in the evening, in the area of the Sarcee Trail and 16 Avenue N.W. interchange.

It was only a few blocks away from where the summer 2024 break occurred.

Water on the road rose almost to the height of its median.

Water could be seen flowing off both sides of the road, taking over pathways and continuing into the park.

Multiple vehicles became stuck, and more than a dozen people had to be rescued.

No injuries were reported.