The thanks to Calgarians and surrounding neighbours continue to pour in as water use in the region has stayed largely below the prescribed 500 million litres.
Meanwhile, work on the nine repaired segments is moving along swiftly, as Infrastructure Services GM Michael Thompson said that workers literally watched concrete dry over the weekend.
Calgary is just over the halfway point in the Bearspaw South feeder main repairs, with work scheduled to continue until April 9.
Concrete has been poured around the steel rebar reinforcement around all nine segments of the pipe that are being repaired, Thompson said. At six of the nine of the sites, concrete curing is complete, and the holes have been backfilled.
While work is in the home stretch, Thompson insisted this was not a long-term solution.
“This is a temporary fix, like putting a band-aid on the pipe, but there are many more spots that we know are in bad condition,” he said.
“We will still be at risk of another break until the new pipe is done at the end of the year.”
Water use on Sunday was 504 million litres, however, five million litres was for refilling the line after valve repairs at the Shaganappi pump station. That leaves Calgary and area water users having consumed 499 million litres.
“We’re taking this as a win,” Thompson said.
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that Calgarians and other water users continue to “crush it.”
“What you’ve shown us from day one, giving our crews the time and space required to make these emergency repairs and to move at the lightning-fast speed needed to deliver the South Bearspaw feeder main replacement,” he said.
“We’re doing all of this at record setting speed, and we are getting it done to our crews who have faced a classic Calgary spring so far.”
