Calgary Outdoor Water Restrictions to Return as Urgent Feeder Main Repairs are Needed

The Bearspaw feeder main will shut down again as new problems are found with the water system.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said at a news conference on Wednesday that extended tests on over 10 kilometers of pipe have revealed that 16 more problem spots need to be fixed. The feeder main will reportedly shut down by the end of the month.

“To be clear, the pipe is not facing an immediate break at any of these sites. Rather, there are enough points of weakness or strain in these sections, that maintenance work needs to be completed before the end of September”, said Mayor Gondek.

As a result, Calgary will return to Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions on August 26. “At the end of July, we began receiving results from the PipeDiver scan. After analyzing these results, we now know that there are several other segments of the pipe that cannot wait for a medium or long-term plan”, said the City of Calgary.

“As a result, we need to make urgent repairs to these segments to address the risk of another unexpected break.” The PipeDiver is an electromagnetic and ultrasonic device used to monitor large diameter water pipes.

Repairs are estimated to be completed by the end of September.

Under the Stage 4 Outdoor Water Restrictions, there will be no outdoor use of potable water. Residents will be asked to limit showers to three minutes, skip flushes when they can and only wash full loads of dishes and laundry.

The City does not plan to close to car washes, indoor pools, or other businesses during this time. However, businesses are expected to find ways to reduce daily water usage by 25 per cent.

The repairs will be done using the reinforced concrete encasement method, which includes exposing the pipe through excavation, building an exterior reinforcing steel cage pouring concrete, and then backfilling the excavation.

Initially, the water main break was discovered on June 5 in the Bowness and Montgomery area. As the repairs were fixed, the City gradually eased the Outdoor Water Restrictions.

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