It’s been a week and Calgary and area water customers continue to help keep the overall water consumption below the target of 500 million litres.

On Nov. 11, Calgary and area water consumption was 475 million litres, well below the target level, as crews continue the tie-in of the Bearspaw water feeder main.

During the same Nov. 4 to Nov. 11 stretch in 2025, at a time without outdoor water restrictions or voluntary indoor water saving measures, Calgary and area water use averaged 505 million litres per day.

Thus far, Calgary is averaging 483 million litres of water used per day.

“A heartfelt thank you to you all for your continued great work to save water. We’re incredibly grateful for everything you’re doing to keep water demand low at this critical time. Your support means the world to our team,” said Michael Thompson, Chief Operation Officer for Calgary’s water utility.

Thompson said the work is ongoing to connect the replacement Bearspaw feeder main at three locations.

The feeder main shutdown has allowed them to also do repair work on the 1,500mm feeder main between the Shaganappi pump station and the Memorial pump station along Parkdale Boulevard and Memorial Drive NW.

Thompson also mentioned the unrelated leak found in Edgemont. He said that repairs are expected to begin this weekend.

“Households and businesses in the area continue to have water service, and we do not anticipate any water outages from this work. However, some in the area may notice lower water pressure than usual while we complete the repair,” he said.

Both Thompson and Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas encouraged Calgarians to head down to Bowness and Montgomery this holiday season to support the businesses in those areas.

“We had the opportunity a couple days ago to launch our shop local campaign,” the mayor said.  

“There’s a number of amazing local businesses that are incredibly worthy of support, and it’s been incredibly challenging time over the past several years. I think now is the time for us as Calgarians to continue to rally to support our neighbours.”

Grey Cup this weekend

Thompson said they’ve been working with Grey Cup organizers for some time, planning for the week-long festival and the big game day coming up on Sunday.

“We’re ready to welcome the country to Calgary,” he said.

“We’re excited about the party starting right now and the game on Sunday, and everything is looking good as we move into this weekend.”

Thompson said that keeping the water use in the green zone allows them to buffer any issues that might arise with the thousands attending the Grey Cup festival or the game.

“We’re now one week into this four-week shutdown, a quarter of the way through it, and we’ve been able collectively to stay in the green zone right now, and so we don’t see challenges ahead with respect to welcoming Canadians to Calgary for the Grey Cup this weekend.”

Thompson said that while the Grey Cup is a large event, it’s not the largest one Calgary has seen, let alone the largest during water restrictions.

Warmer weather has also helped construction crews stay on schedule with the replacement feeder main work, Thompson said.

“We’re on schedule. We’re moving forward as planned, and the weather is definitely helping out right now,” he said.