Extreme cold snaps such as Edmonton has experienced this winter can cause older water mains to break. (CBC)In spite of a series of high-profile water main breaks in Edmonton — including one that closed a downtown restaurant for New Year's — there's good news when it comes to winter water issues, an Epcor official said Wednesday.

"We've seen, over the last few years due to some preventative maintenance that we do every year, that the number of water main breaks has been steadily decreasing," said Mike Gibbs, a spokesman for Epcor Utilities.

"It's actually at its lowest level since the 1960s, so we've been doing fairly well, and that's because of an ongoing program that we have to replace aging and old pipes."

There were 669 breaks in 2009, the lowest number on record, Gibbs said. The breaks are usually caused by extreme temperature drops that shift the ground and put stress on the pipes.

On Wednesday morning, crews were forced to close two lanes on Gateway Boulevard to work on another water main break.

On New Year's Eve, Sorrentino's restaurant on 100th Street and 102nd Avenue, was forced to cancel the reservations of 250 diners after a water main break flooded the building.