Water main breaks caused a muddy mess along north Main Avenue and forced city crews to shut off water to several businesses.
A pipe in front of Days Inn broke and forced crews to shut off water to the businesses Monday for several hours on the east side of the street from 31st Street south to the Quality Inn, just north of 29th Street.
On Monday morning, another pipe broke at 33rd Street and Main, and then another in the 1600 block of Forest Avenue.
The water main breaks were caused by the ground shifting with the warmer weather, said Steve Salka, utilities director.
“The pipes bend and they break, and that’s why so many of them are happening all at once,” he said Monday.
The break in front of Days Inn started at 3 p.m. Sunday, said Jarrod Judge, who works the front desk.
“The water was just gushing right out of the cracks of the sidewalk,” he said.
City crews started working on the problem Sunday night. On Monday afternoon, several motels, the north Main Laundry, B & F Welding and several other business were without water.
North Main Laundry closed during the outage, said owner Richard Andrews.
The winter weather causes plenty of water main breaks, and Andrews wasn’t particularly surprised because he has closed for water line repairs about four times in the 25 years he’s been in business.
“It will probably happen all winter long. Hopefully, it’s not in front of my place,” he said of the water main breaks.
At Days Inn, water was turned back on shortly before 5 p.m., and that allowed the hotel to welcome guests, said Dakotah MacFarlane, a front desk manager.
“I haven’t any complaints so far,” he said.
If the hotel lost its water supply, it would have sent customers away, Judge said.
If you live in the area of the breaks and your water is cloudy, you should run cold water until it clears, city officials advise.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
