Businesses and residences near Kachemak Way piped in dirty water last week after a private contractor struck a main line stub.

Eric Shafford with Property Improvements took full responsibility for the mistake and explained just what caused the break in the main line.

"I apologize to all the people that were affected with the dirty water. I also apologize to the people of Public Works that worked so hard to clean the mess I made up. What happened was we were digging near a stub out near Kachemak Way. Where I made my mistake was in assuming that the pressure in that stub out was off because it does not serve any residences. I made that assumption, and wrongly so, that there was no pressure behind that. We exposed the stub out and at that point the cap blew off. I don't know whether the backhoe hit it or the significant pressure behind it and the relief of the pressure of the earth holding the cap on caused it to blow off. Public Works showed up right away after I told them that we had the leak," said Shafford.

The city of Homer Public Works Department was able to stop the leak in about 20 minutes after it was reported at around 9:30 a.m. Oct. 28. Even though the line was patched quickly, the process of flushing the water in the pipes took awhile longer.

The break in the water main brought on a sudden rush of water throughout the area system and scoured the inside of the main, turning the water a deep brown.

No foreign matter entered the system and water is safe, according to a press release last week from the Public Works Department.

The break affected water customers on the north side of Pioneer Avenue, up the hill along Kachemak Way and surrounding areas.

At least one business, the Caribou Family Restaurant, temporarily shut its doors. A sign on the restaurant Oct. 28 said "Closed No Water."

For other businesses, the brown water was merely an inconvenience.

"When we got in yesterday I just noticed that the water in the toilet bowl looked really nasty. I mean, we don't use the tap water that often, but it is a big deal when we're trying to run the steamer. We usually just use tap water, but for now we have to use bottled water whenever we want to use it. They said that we should let the water run for 15 minutes so we tried that, but it's still brown. They said they should have it fixed over the weekend," said Dora Macauly of Homer's Jeans on Oct. 29.

Macauly works the cash register and sales at Homer's Jeans on Pioneer Avenue.

The brown water was more of a nuisance at home where it affected everything from washing her hands and taking a shower to simply pouring a glass of water, she said.

For the Homer Volunteer Fire Department, the rust-colored water did not posed a problem.

"We've got these big Britta water filters, so, really, we've got clean water for drinking or washing our hands or whatever. The water in the toilet is still brown, but for the most part it really hasn't affected us," said Elaine Grabowski, as she fields phone calls at the front desk. "I know it has definitely affected homes where people are used to just getting a glass of water from the tap."