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Calgary officials said Thursday they have narrowed down the location of a massive water main break that has left thousands of residents without water and forced more than one million others to restrict their use, but it could be days before service is fully restored.

The break occurred in the city’s northwest, flooding a Safeway parking lot and a nearby athletic park while slowing traffic in the Montgomery neighbourhood.

The break affects “the most critical” south feeder main, which supplies water to 1.2 million Calgarians in addition to the nearby municipalities of Airdrie, Chestermere and Strathmore, director of water services Nancy MacKay said at a news conference Thursday.

“It’s like the large artery in the city carrying drinking water from our treated water reservoirs to the network of mains that deliver drinking water across Calgary and beyond,” Ms. MacKay said.

The City of Calgary has activated its Municipal Emergency Plan, with residents urged to conserve water by not watering gardens or washing dishes and going without showers and baths. Several city facilities have also been affected, including recreation centres, public pools and rinks.

Earlier on Thursday, Ms. MacKay said the city has about 170 water main breaks a year but that the size of this one is unprecedented.

At the same news conference, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said she visited the site of the break, adding a break in a feeder main is much more devastating than a water line.

“You can literally drive a truck through the feeder main that has broken,” Ms. Gondek said. “It’s a pretty significant piece of infrastructure.”

While the emergency alert issued Thursday morning was later reduced to an advisory, water supply levels remained critical.

Ms. Gondek commended Calgarians for reducing their water usage and encouraged residents to continue to do so into the evening when more people run dishwashers or do laundry.

“Water use is down,” she said. “As we go into the evening hours, please keep at it. Carry on with leaning in – that’s the thing that’s going to put us in really good shape.”

In the Bowness neighbourhood in west Calgary, residents were on a boil water order. They have been told to boil water for a minute before using it to drink, cook or even brush their teeth. Sue Henry, head of Calgary’s emergency management agency, said Thursday that nine water wagons have been deployed in the community to provide residents with access to a safe supply.

One Bowness resident, Randy Risling, said he noticed his water pressure dropping around 7 p.m. Wednesday night. He said Thursday morning he heard rumours a water main had broken and biked from his house to see the damage.

“When I arrived, there were firefighters and police everywhere,” Mr. Risling said in an e-mail. “The Trans-Canada Highway was closed both ways and thousands of people were without water.”

Mr. Risling said he and his neighbours are still unsure about what happened.

“We’re under a boil-water advisory but have no indication for how long,” he said. “The big question is how did it take so long and get to the point of completely depleting our fresh water system?”

Ms. Henry said “this is a dynamic situation” with various agencies, including the Calgary Fire Department, working together to monitor the situation.

The Fire Department issued a fire ban Thursday morning, announcing on social media it is “a precautionary measure to help prevent any unnecessary fires.” The ban will remain in effect until the water shortage is resolved.

City officials, however, could not confirm when the advisory might end.

“Scenarios are still not clear for us, so we need to be prepared for some time for this to play out,” said Ms. MacKay.

Ms. Gondek added it could take one or two days to identify where repairs are needed, but officials don’t yet know what those repairs look like or how long they could take.

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