Businesses in a northwest Calgary community are fed up after the fifth watermain break in 2026 alone. A water main break on Saturday in Bowness left about 20 businesses without water along Bowness Road N.W. Many businesses along the thoroughfare were forced to close or scale back operations over the weekend. Absolute Audio Video owner Ross Sisson said the water main break has added more pressure to his already busy summer season. “We’ve got these added pressures and hard work of cleaning the basement and doing extra stuff just because of the city’s poor infrastructure,” Sisson said. “It’s hard when you see taxes going up every year, and then you see the infrastructure crumbling like this over and over again. “The city needs to get their priorities straight about where they’re spending their money, especially for small businesses.” Other business owners in the area share Sisson’s frustrations. “This is a band-aid solution, and we’ve been fighting to have that fixed. But the city is not interested,” said Paul Sipos, who owns The Place restaurant. The executive director of Mainstreet Bowiness BIA says water main breaks like these affect the area “every few months.” “Bowness is exhausted. The residents, the community, the business owners, everybody’s exhausted and wondering, is this normal,” Freeman said. “We have a few businesses that are brand new, who’ve been here for about six months, and they think that this is the norm. This is just what happens every few months.” The fallout has been difficult for small businesses to navigate. Sipos says he lost $9,000 in revenue this weekend. “The food is going bad, (we) got to throw it out. My staff are calling me, they want to come to work, and we just can’t,” Sipos said. Sisson, meanwhile, says his basement flooded with six inches of water. “There’s water in the walls, so now they’re going to have to come in and cut all the inside drywall and let it all dry out, because I can’t have mold down there, Sisson said, adding some of his inventory has been damaged in that flooding. Ward 1 City Councillor Kim Tyers says she understands the frustration of the community, calling the repeated breaks “not acceptable.” She has pledged to bring the issue up with city administration in the hopes of finding a permanent solution. “We should really focus on making sure that residents aren’t getting used to water main breaks. This should not be normal,” Tyers said. “(The city) should be focusing on our basic infrastructure so that residents have confidence in the city.” Tyers says one possible solution could be the city’s Main Streets Program, which “aims to revitalize these areas in established communities to prepare them for growth and change,” according to the city’s website. “Bowness is a great candidate for it. They did talk to me about things like safety, improving signage, improving lighting. I’m not sure how water infrastructure would come into play, but I’m definitely going to have those conversations with administration,” Tyers said. With five watermain breaks in 2026, Sipos says a permanent upgrade do the area well, but some business owners have lost faith the city will appropriately handle the situation. “There’s no guarantee that if they fix these five metres of pipe that tomorrow, 15 feet up the road, it’s going to break somewhere else again,” Sipos said. “I really have no confidence in the water main infrastructure like none at all,” Sipos continued. The City of Calgary said the break was resolved as of 7:30 p.m. on Monday.
