Subzero temperatures causing shifting ground led to a break in the waterline serving Arrowhead Plaza Wednesday afternoon.

Over the noon hour on Thursday, Markwed Excavating completed repairs and at 1 p.m. the city turned the water back on.

Loss of the water had varying impacts on the stores occupying Arrowhead. Perhaps heaviest hit was the Walrus restaurant and bar, forcing owner Randy Walz to close his doors from the time the water was turned off at 4 p.m. Wednesday until it came back on.

"We found out it broke at 3 o'clock and they shut it off, just turning it on long enough for use to get five buckets of water to clean up," Walz said. "It's amazing what you can't do without water and there was nothing we could do about it. We were closed for 22 hours and missed a dinner and lunch."

Without water it's hard to create steam and the lack there of put a crimp in the Arrowhead Cleaners work schedule. While the doors remained open and the cleaners accepted items, no cleaning was going on, according to manager Art Fode.

"It virtually shut us down," Fode said. "We kept the doors open, we just couldn't do any work. We're at least a day behind and it's going to take time to catch up."

Despite a lack of running water, Plaza Hair Center still managed to do a few shampoos and rinses, according to Delores Page.

"We stayed open and were still able to do hair cuts," Page said. "Most of the work did have to be rescheduled, but we brought some water in to do a few shampoos and rinses."

Dan's Supermarket manager Dianna Mihulka said the store's food license required they close. They locked the doors at 7 p.m. Thursday, even though they were told by the city they could remain open until midnight.

Markwed's Kevin Buechler said the company's crew showed up at 7 a.m. on Thursday to fix the water pipe. After digging down to it a sleeve was put over the broke area.

It's not unusual for these types of breaks, city maintenance supervisor Richard Wanner explained. City crews were working on another break at south 11th Street and Indiana Avenue on Thursday. The water pipe serving Arrowhead is a private line requiring the shopping center to hire the work.

Ben Franklin's Ardis Lee said the water shut off had little effect on business, sentiments echoed by Plaza Drug's Pam O'Brien. The Beer Depot was open, but the Plaza Barber Shop was closed.

"We've been open our regular hours," O'Brien said. "Other than the employees having to dance around a little, because the bathroom isn't useable, we haven't had many problems."

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@;bismarcktribune.com.)