Calgarians can catch up on laundry and wash off any lingering stink as the indoor water-saving measures ease up in the city’s return to water service.

After nearly one month of smaller dishwasher loads, rain collecting, navy showers and more, Mayor Jyoti Gondek told citizens during a media event Tuesday that water use – indoors, at least – can start to go back to normal.

It’s the culmination of work on the Bearspaw water feeder main that ruptured June 5. While those repairs were underway, the City of Calgary found five other hotspots they believed needed emergency fixes before water service could be restored.

“I’m relieved to say that today we can deliver some much-needed good news,” Mayor Gondek said.

“I’m incredibly pleased to share that indoor water use can now return to normal and we look forward to slowly restoring outdoor water use as we continue to monitor the system stabilization process.”

She said three crews worked July 1 to continue a flush of the system to improve the cloudiness seen in some water coming from Calgarians’ taps. She said turbidity levels are trending in the right direction.

The Bearspaw feeder main has been brought up to 50 per cent capacity, and the City of Calgary’s Water Services are continuing to monitor any acoustic irregularities and pressure changes.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver said it was a good day but we’re not completely out of the woods yet. There’s still work to do, he said.

“It’s with great gratitude and frankly, a little bit of relief that I’m with you here today to recognize the expeditious work that’s been undertaken to fix the Bowness water main and to thank Calgarians for their efforts in conserving water for these last four weeks,” he said.

The relaxed indoor water use applies to all businesses, including car washes and indoor swimming pools. With Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions still in place, the seven citywide locations for non-potable water pickup will remain open.

Next steps to relax all water restrictions

Over the coming days, the City of Calgary will continue to slowly increase the capacity of the Bearspaw feeder main. In that time, they will continue to monitor the line.

Infrastructure Services GM Michael Thompson said that they still need Calgarians’ further support to not overburden the system as they continue to ramp things up. He’d like citizens to ease into regular water use as they bring the feeder main back up to full capacity.

“We need Calgarians’ support to avoid putting too much strain on the system,” he said.

“This means being thoughtful about spreading out your water use needs like not doing all your waiting laundry in one day but instead doing one load a day for the coming days.”

Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions will stay in place, according to Thompson. As additional capacity is brought online in the Bearspaw feeder main, they will start to discuss easing those measures. A fire ban also remains in place.

“We understand that easing underwater saving measures is a milestone and we’re all looking forward to it,” Thompson said.

“Your commitment to conserving water throughout this response has been admirable and we still depend on you as we stabilize the system and ease into further restrictions.

Calgary’s State of Local Emergency will also remain in place for the time being, though it expires on Thursday, Mayor Gondek said. Since they are still in the monitoring stage, they want to maintain access to private property and procure materials as needed, in case there is an emergency.

Mayor Gondek said she fully expects to see a spike in water usage now that Calgarians can get back into normal water use patterns. Still, she thinks that many citizens will take a measured approach in their return, and may continue some of the water-saving secrets they picked up over the past month.

“I have a lot of faith that Calgarians have understood over the last 26 days what we needed to do to keep our water system running and getting water to all of our homes and I continue to have that faith that Calgarians will understand we need to ease back into regular use,” she said.

“I can tell you in all my conversations with people out in the community, people have reflected that they never stopped to think how much water was being wasted as they were running the shower to get it to warm up or just leaving the tap running to get it to cool down. So, I think people have learned a lot about the value and importance of water, and I’ll be interested to see what kind of practices people carry on with.”

Glenmore plant to get the spa treatment

As the City of Calgary ramps up the use of the refurbished Bearspaw line and thus the Bearspaw water treatment plant, the Glenmore water treatment facility will get a bit of a relaxed load over the next week. The City said it will catch up with regular maintenance needed at the plant, which has been working overtime for the past month.

“We need to start to slow that down, so we’re going to reduce the production coming out of the Glenmore water treatment plant,” said GM Thompson.

“Those pumps have all been going nonstop and we haven’t had the ability to go and do some of the regular maintenance that we’ve needed to do at that plant.”

Thompson said they would be reducing the production coming out of that plant to do the maintenance and then bring it back to producing a more regular rate of water.

Officials addressed questions over the cost of the feeder main repairs, with Mayor Gondek saying that it doesn’t make sense to provide a ballpark figure when the job isn’t complete.

“I think it’s important to have the final number. I think it’s really important to make sure that all the departments that need to weigh in are able to do so, so we can give you a final number,” the mayor said.

“When we put that final number out, we’re also going to be fielding questions about why did it cost so much? What was it that was the greatest cost? I think it would have been irresponsible to talk about bits and pieces of the cost without knowing the full tally.”

When the time comes, Minister McIver said he knows the City of Calgary will come calling, if it has to. When it does, they’ll carefully consider their request – but no promises today, McIver said.

“This is an unexpected expense. While I don’t know, I think it’s a fairly easy guess that it’d be a large one,” he said.

“I’ve always said I’m never offended when municipalities ask for more money for infrastructure. We can’t always say yes, but when the mayor or any other municipal official asks their province or their federal government for more money, they’re just doing their job.”

McIver also said that this situation is a wake-up call for municipalities to have reserves in place for such emergencies. He said all pipes fail, it’s just a matter of time. This one happened to be when the pipe was 50 years into an expected 100-year lifespan, McIver said.