Calgary is nearing the final stages of restoring full water use after the main break

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said emergency services are nearing the final stages of restoring full water service after a massive main break that has affected the city’s water lines for nearly a month.

During a press conference on Saturday, Gondek said teams took preliminary samples while flushing the pipes to send to Alberta Health Services for testing.

“This means that very soon we will be approaching the final steps to restore water throughout the city,” she told reporters.

“The preliminary tests look encouraging and the final phase of stabilisation involves the feeder head slowly returning to normal use. This is great news for all of us.”

On June 5, a massive main, a key pipeline carrying water from the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant to about 60 percent of the city, burst in the Montgomery neighborhood in northwest Calgary.

The city relies on water from the South Glenmore Treatment Plant, which also supplies water to the remaining 40 percent of the city.

Emergency services have consistently encouraged Calgarians to stop using water outdoors and minimize water use indoors by taking shorter showers, limiting the amount of laundry they do, and cutting back on flushing toilets.

1:53
Calgary Mayor Calls for More Water Conservation Efforts as Use Rises

On Thursday, Gondek said Calgarians were using 500 million gallons of water, about 20 million gallons more than the daily limit needed to ensure enough water is available for fire and health care.

She said Calgarians must continue to reduce their water use by 25 percent to keep reserves from drying up.

During Saturday’s update, she said residents have turned the tide.

“You have doubled your conservation efforts and yesterday the figures reached 460 million litres,” Gondek said on Saturday.

“I trusted that you would rise to this opportunity because you have done such a great job reducing your water usage over the past few weeks.”

Francois Bouchard, Calgary’s infrastructure director, said crews have made good progress in restoring water service.

Teams followed a four-step recovery process including filling, flushing, testing and stabilizing, he said.

“Yesterday we completed the main supply around 6 p.m. and last night we started flushing the line,” Bouchard said Saturday. “This means water is pushed through the system and released into the river.”

Once the flushing is completed, he said preliminary samples will be taken to test the water quality.

So far, the results have been encouraging, he said.

“If testing shows the water is clean and safe, and we have confirmed that with Environment and Protected Areas and Alberta Health Services, then we will move to the final step of stabilizing the system,” Bouchard said.

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Water emergency in Calgary: Pipeline flushing begins, says Mayor Gondek

According to Gondek, many people, including Prime Minister Danielle Smith, are looking for answers as to what caused the breach and how the city’s water system can be strengthened in the future.

Speaking on her province-wide radio program, Your province. Your prime ministerSmith said developers have told her that water leakage in Calgary is “very high,” citing a report done in the spring.

“We need to address the issues, why water leakage in Calgary’s plumbing system is so high and what can be done to fix it,” she said.

She also raised concerns about whether Calgary’s water infrastructure can handle the pressure created by the construction of additional apartment complexes as part of the planned overall zoning change.

“Right before the pipe burst, we had a joint meeting of council and my group in Calgary and I said, ‘Are you sure all your old infrastructure can withstand a wholesale rezoning?’” Smith said.

“If you have 12 single-family homes and an infrastructure built for that, it’s very different than when you have multi-family homes and multiple multi-family homes.”

Gondek said the report Smith referred to was presented to the City Council, where it was discussed “quite thoroughly.”

Thompson added that the city is actively working with industry to explore how to reduce water leakage throughout the system.

“The city of Calgary’s water leakage rates are similar to other municipalities around Calgary…but we know we need to reduce the amount of water leaking from our system,” he said.

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Water emergency in Calgary: repairs enter critical phase

Gondek confirmed that the framework for an independent third-party incident assessment will be presented at a city council committee meeting on Wednesday.

“This framework includes the involvement of an advisory group, which consists of respected industry leaders and experts,” Gondek said.

“The scope will cover what happened to the pipe, what happened to the city’s response and how Calgarians were kept informed during the repair and restoration work.”

Gondek also said the city’s Emergency Operations Center is monitoring the cost of restoring water service. Transactions will be tallied once water is fully restored, she said.

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