Boil water advisory in effect for 3 Calgary communities

Communities without clean water, clear answers More than 3,600 homes in southwest Calgary were under a boil water advisory on Friday and the city says it could go on for several days.

Three southwest Calgary communities are under a boil water advisory due to a watermain break Thursday afternoon at a nearby construction site.

It appears as though an excavator ruptured a pipe, resulting in a large pool of water flooding a portion of the site.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) says residents in Silverado, Yorkville, and Belmont are advised to bring tap water to a rolling boil for at least one minute before consumption.

Water used for bathing or washing clothes does not need to be boiled, but residents in the impacted areas should bring tap water to a boil before brushing their teeth, cleaning raw foods, preparing any type of juice or other drinks, and making ice.

One CTV News viewer says blackened water was coming from their taps late Thursday night.

According to the city's website, 1,000 homes and 100 businesses have been impacted by service interruptions.

Fatima Pacon, who lives in the area, says she noticed something wrong with her water at around 4 p.m. on Thursday.

"I opened the tap in my kitchen and there was no water," she told CTV News. "I couldn't tell if it was my house or the neighbourhood."

She tried 311 but found the waiting list was too long, so gave up.

"We didn't know what was going on."

She soon learned what the issue was when she went online.

"I went to the calgary.ca website and say that there was a problem with the water main."

Nick Sikora has a family of six along with a couple dogs in his household and says the issue has been hard to deal with.

"It caught us off-guard."

Water has been restored to most of the affected properties, but the boil water notice will remain in place until further notice.

The city is now working with Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and AHS to resolve the issue.

"Our crews worked quickly to restore water after a main break on Thursday afternoon," said Chris Huston, acting director of water services, in a statement on Friday.

"We were able to restore water to the affected communities early Friday morning. The boil water advisory has been issued out of an abundance of caution."

Pacon says her home has water again and her family is managing with the boil water advisory.

"It looks fine – it's not discoloured or anything. It doesn't smell or anything, but we're boiling it."

A contractor will be on-site Friday to continue with repairs.

More information on boil water procedures can be found here.