Calgarians in the community of Woodbine had their water restored Monday afternoon after five days of waiting.
A water main break happened in the community on the morning of Feb. 14 and repairs and water restoration was delayed as crews battled with the cold, hard, frozen ground.
Six homes were affected by the water main break, including that of Giselle Brunel, who had been lugging in a five-gallon jug of water each day to use for everything from brushing her teeth to washing and rinsing her hair.
“It’s been a challenge for sure because my husband’s recovering from surgery and so he’s not able to help,” Brunel told Global News on Monday.
“And it’s been snowing a lot so I’ve had to shovel a lot and haul the water and I feel a bit like a pioneer wife.”
Brunel said the response had been slow but she had seen workers in the neighbourhood every day trying to solve their issue. She said she would have liked to have seen more daily communication from the city about whether they would have water the next morning.
“I would like to have a proper shower at some point, because I have to go back to work tomorrow. So I’m really hoping the water’s back on today.”
According to the City of Calgary website, there are eight other water main breaks across the city affecting about 170 homes.
According to Global News weather specialist Jodi Hughes, it’s been an unusually cold February for Calgary, with only three days in the month so far being above the average high. Monday’s temperature was expected to be colder than the average low.
No one from the city was available for comment on the response time to the water outages or when the water will be turned back on.