Calgary could be down to Stage 1 water restrictions by Monday should there be no major setbacks as capacity is increased in the repaired Bearspaw water feeder main.

Both Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Francois Bouchart, director of capital priorities and investments, said in their respective water main updates Wednesday that there have been no new wire snaps since 2 a.m. Wednesday.

The last wire snap was detected on Monday morning, with there being a total of four wire snaps since July 7, according to City of Calgary Water Services.

Bearspaw capacity has been ratcheted up to 70 per cent capacity, which means that Stage 2 restrictions are possible on Thursday, barring any setbacks.

“At the moment, it looks like the pipe has been able to manage the increased speed of flow, and the work the water team did in preparation for turning on an additional pump has paid off, as they were able to successfully minimize any pressure spikes,” Mayor Gondek said in her Monday morning update.

On Tuesday, 557 million litres of water was used, which is lower than Calgary’s typical water use for July, the mayor said. It’s a good sign, as Calgarians have been adhering to the current Stage 3 outdoor water restrictions, said Mayor Gondek.

Bouchart, in his afternoon update, said that they continue to carefully monitor the pipeline for any issues.

“We will continue to monitor the pipe overnight, and we’ll make a final decision on whether to move the stage two outdoor water restrictions early tomorrow morning,” Bouchart said.

If they do, that would mean hoses could be used to water outdoor plants, and sprinklers could be used for an hour a day, once per week to water lawns.

“We will then watch how our system performs through the weekend, if everything remains stable and we’re confident that we have met the demand, we could move to stage one outdoor water restrictions as early as Monday,” Bouchart said.

That would mean two hours a week of watering, once a week on a set schedule. More details on the potential changes to restrictions are posted here. Calgary was in Stage 1 water restrictions last summer.

Update on third-party review

Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp had pulled the third-party review item, forwarded from a recent committee meeting to the consent agenda, to ask about progress on the third-party review and changes that had been requested by city council.

“I really pulled this to make sure that direction that was given at IPC (Infrastructure and Planning Committee) is understood to come back at the end of this month, and to make sure that you’re ready for that and just to see how the progress of from that date to today has been going,” Coun. Sharp asked Chief Administrative Officer, David Duckworth.

At that committee meeting, councillors rejected a proposed plan and draft terms of reference from Duckworth, citing the need for this review to be completely independent.

Duckworth walked councillors through the new plan, saying they will present to council again on July 30, and at that time likely have the names of people who will sit on a small advisory panel. They will then be responsible for recruiting a chair, likely through the use of an executive recruitment firm, Duckworth said.

That group will then work on recruitment for the panel. In October, Duckworth expects that group to inform council who will take part in the panel and they determine the scope of the review.

“They will (be) independent, arm’s length from the city. We will support them; support them in the sense that we will help them hire the executive recruitment firm, but they will be selecting that executive recruitment firm,” Duckworth said.  

“It’ll be hands off for administration. It’ll be hands off from Council, over to them for the whole process.”

Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said there’s concern over Duckworth picking even the small initial advisory panel and the signal that the City’s CAO is “knocking the first domino.”

“Just be mindful that that was part of the conflict, and public perception and feedback is how we start,” Wyness said.

“This can lead to criticism for this organization at the end of whatever this report can be.”

CAO Duckworth said that the initial advisory panel will consist of respected Calgarians that have had experience in going through panels like these. After that, the third-party review will be in their hands.