Leading into the weekend, Jodie Tilley’s beauty business is usually bustling, but she’s been forced to operate a lot differently on this particular Friday.
“It’s pretty difficult to operate a clinic without a water supply,” says the co-founder of Phi Beauty Aesthetics.
Tilley and several other business owners along 33rd Ave. SW were handed notices by City of Calgary officials late Thursday afternoon, advising them the water would be shut off in their area at 6:30 a.m. the following day.
Tilley says no reason was given for the disruption, and they had little more than 12 hours to find a way to deal with it.
“We had 40 patients arriving at the clinic today. We do need water for our services here… we no longer have bathrooms.”
The City of Calgary told Global News the shutdown was due to a water main break in the area – one of roughly 300 emergencies that happen in the city annually.
The time had suddenly come, officials say, for the cast iron pipe under the road that was placed there back in 1948.
While 14 hours doesn’t seem like a lot of time for business owners to prepare – it was the best the city could do.
“When (crews) showed up they recognized that shutting this off right away would cause an impact to businesses,” said Chris Huston, Calgary’s Manager of Drinking Water Distribution.
“They did what we call ‘controlling the main’ so that leaves the businesses with water until we could get a traffic setup, and our crews would be able to go in and make the repair.”
During planned water main repairs, the city is able to run backup feeds out of local fire hydrants.
But in an emergency circumstance like this one, testing the water from that source would take nearly as long as the repair to the main itself.
Dozens of workers could be seen digging up asphalt early Friday morning – a familiar site for owners in the area who’ve been dealing with construction for the better part of two years already.
“I feel for them,” says Cameron Fraser, the owner of Fraser & Fig, just a block away.
While his business wasn’t affected by Friday’s shutdown, the orange cones lining his street show he’s no stranger to business disruption either.
“It hits close to home and it’s something that’s current in everyone’s mind. On top of the existing construction, it’s the last thing anybody needs.”
Some business owners say they’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue since the construction to revitalize the area began.
The latest estimate for completion of that work isn’t until November 2025.
“People hear about our clinic from word of mouth, or go on to Google and see good reviews… then they look at the location and say ‘oh god no, I’ll find somewhere else,” Tilley says.
The taps will turn on again soon in Marda Loop, with crews working extended hours Friday and into the weekend to ensure it’s fixed as fast as possible.
But the experience of overcoming yet another hurdle has Tilley wondering if it will all be worth it in the end.
“I’m hoping and praying a year from now, this is just an accessible community, and it’s walkable and the City hasn’t made more mistakes.”
“I love the community, I live in the community… I guess we’ll wait and see.”