Calgary’s first feeder main break in Bowness has now been fully repaired, and work has already begun on concurrent repairs for five other Bearspaw south hot spots.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek provided an update Monday morning (June 17), largely recapping the rollercoaster ride of developments that happened over the Father’s Day weekend.

She noted the five additional hotspots that required repair and thus three to five weeks of water restrictions, the declaration of a State of Local Emergency, and that water use had been creeping up all week.

Mayor Gondek balanced that off with better news, including no additional breaks found in 300 metres of remaining feeder main pipe, and that Calgarians had reduced their water use to 438 million litres on Saturday. 

She added that Calgarians remained steadfast in water conservation, with 439 million litres consumed on Sunday.

“I very much appreciate the fact that you found other ways to cut down your water usage,” the mayor said.

The City of Calgary’s water use threshold is 480 million litres. When they have a surplus, it allows them to ensure the replenishment of 23 community reservoirs that provided water service to different areas of Calgary.

Finally, the mayor said that heavy equipment is on the ground and that partners across the continent have stepped up to help the City deal with the current water situation.

“We told you that we would be working with municipalities across North America to secure the parts that we needed, and those parts are either on their way or they are already here,” she said.

Water notes from the mayor:

• One less laundry load per household saves 90 million litres of water
• One less dishwasher load per household saves 17 million litres
• One less toilet flush per household saves 12.5 million litres

Mayor Gondek also asked businesses to consider ways to help employees conserve water, including letting them work from home. This uses less water in public spaces (auto taps and auto flushes) but also allows citizens to make personal choices easier at home.

“They can take that shorter showers, they can skip a shower. They know they can do one less flush,” she said.

“It’s a little bit easier for those who can work from home to help us in our water conservation efforts.”

Working well with others on water main fix

Two roundtables were held in Calgary over the weekend, bringing together city engineers and hydrologists alongside professionals from the energy industry to consider what repair options could look like, the mayor said.

Other organizations like Standard General, Volker Stevin, Whissle, LBCO, Associated Engineering and Pure Technologies have also been included in those conversations.

“When I sat down with my team on Friday night, after we heard the difficult news about five more sections needing repair, we knew we had to take a bold approach to get this pipe fixed and to get water flowing to all of you, and most importantly, we knew we needed to do it in a safe manner,” the mayor said.

“As ideas flew and the weekend progressed, I was truly heartened to watch people step up and teams come together, all for the good of Calgarians. We really have banded together in this one.”

More information will be provided later today and this week regarding the impact the water situation will have on Calgary’s tourism economy – particularly the Calgary Stampede.

Calgary Stampede officials are scheduled to attend today’s 2 p.m. briefing.