While repairs continue on the Bearspaw feeder main’s latest rupture, the City of Calgary is pleading with citizens to reduce their water consumption.

Officials provided the latest update from the Emergency Operations Centre on Jan. 5, 2026, saying that Calgarians used 510 million litres of water, 25 million litres above the sustainable target set out by the City of Calgary.

It’s been a regular message from Chief Sue Henry, as it was during the last time the Bearspaw feeder main erupted back in 2024.

“This affects the health of our entire distribution system, our plants and their ability to produce enough treated water, our underground storage, which needs to be refilled each night, and our ability to move water around the city to everyone who needs it,” she said.

“It is imperative that Calgarians continue to conserve water, so demand does not outstrip supply.”

Being at the 485 million litre mark allows the more than 20 water storage reservoirs around Calgary to be replenished. Chief Henry said that ensures that there’s enough water for life-saving emergencies.

“A single fire can use 4.5 million liters of water and draw down a storage location by 25 per cent. This is the same amount of water that 26,000 Calgarians would use in a day,” Henry said.  

“Crews are working as fast as safely possible to restore the water system, and your support makes all the difference.”

Henry said that the City of Calgary has made changes to its water use, including no refills on pools that are down for maintenance, office staff are being asked to work from home where possible, and they’ve closed vehicle wash bays other than for safety needs.

“We’ve also connected with our large industrial customers and other partners of the agency, and we’ve received commitments from them to decrease their water use; some of our customers are decreasing as much as 50 per cent,” Chief Henry said.

‘The new reality’ and release of the independent Bearspaw review

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas called the handling of the Bearspaw feeder main and potential future water conservation “the new reality.”

“Yesterday, we lived in a world where water was something that we could take for granted. Yesterday, water was something that most of us didn’t even think about. We turned on the tap, we ran the dishwasher, we took a shower and we moved on with our day,” he said.

“Today, that has changed. Today, we are living in a new reality.”

He said that they need to be honest with Calgarians about what that means. The

“But I want to be completely upfront with Calgarians, things will not truly be back to normal until the new pipe is built and fully operational,” he said.

Work is already underway to replace a six-kilometre section of the impacted Bearspaw feeder main. Designs are in the works and plans are to expedite the construction. That’s expected to last until sometime in 2028. The North Calgary servicing project and the South Calgary servicing project are also in progress.

Mayor Farkas said they would also go to work on the actions of an independent review. He said that the report was expected to be complete by Tuesday.

“We will work to release that publicly as quickly as possible. We will implement the recommendations and every step of the way, we will be transparent with Calgarians,” Farkas said.

When asked when that would be, Farkas said the panel will present its findings in an open session of the Executive Committee on Jan. 13.

“We need to be as transparent as possible with Calgarians about not just what’s happening with the pipe, but also the governance of the City of Calgary,” he said.

“We need to be able to show Calgarians that we’ve done the work.”