Cold weather is being blamed for a water-main break that cut water service for roughly 17 hours on a Sturgeon Heights crescent.

City crews restored water service to Sable Crescent shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday.

“There’s a number of things that can cause a water main to fail. We’re thinking here with the cold weather, there might have been some ground movement that caused the pipe to break,” said Greg Grueber, the city’s utilities supervisor.

Crews first responded to the break at 9 p.m. Tuesday night and shut off water at 3 a.m. This service disruption affected roughly 17 residents living in homes 2 to 18.

After the leak was repaired, the city flushed the line and determined chlorine levels were safe and turbidity – how cloudy the water is – was acceptable.

Crews excavated a section of road over top of the break and Grueber said he expects this to be repaired in the coming days, depending on weather.

Environment Canada issued a snowfall warning Wednesday morning for St. Albert, indicating between 10 and 25 cm of snow is expected by Thursday.

“Over the next couple of days, we’re going to have a crew come in to restore the asphalt and then it’s going to be business as usual on that street,” he said, adding a temporary road surface is in place until permanent repairs can be completed.

Grueber said he doesn’t know how much water was released, but said he is confident none of the water reached the Sturgeon River. Chlorine in treated water can affect freshwater.

The total cost of the repairs is estimated at $10,000, based on prior repairs.

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