Update September 3: Bearspaw South Feeder Main repairs

Update September 3: Bearspaw South Feeder Main repairs

It's been one week since the Bearspaw South Feeder Main was taken out of service for urgent repairs and this has significantly limited our ability to move drinking water across the city. To make the most of our limited water supply, we remain in Stage 4 Outdoor Water Restrictions and are encouraging Calgarians to reduce their indoor water usage while work is underway.

We’ve been exploring ways to improve water distribution across the city using key learnings from the original break in June. This is incredibly challenging as we have a complex network of over 5,000 km of pipes and multiple underground storage reservoirs where we store treated water.

Over the past several days, we’ve been testing a new configuration of our existing pumps to redirect water flow. Our team is now confident that this configuration solution is sustainable for the remainder of the repair work, which enables us to move an additional 35 million litres of water through the system each day. This moves our water consumption target up to 485 million litres per day.

Yesterday’s water use was 505 million litres, which is up from 473 million litres on Sunday, and puts us in the red zone. At this rate, we are unable to consistently replenish our underground storage reservoirs. The efforts of Calgarians to reduce water use are incredibly important right now to ensure we are making the most of our limited water supply while the Bearspaw South Feeder Main is turned off for urgent repairs. With high temperatures in the forecast this week, this is especially important as we know that water use typically increases in hotter weather.

Under Stage 4 Outdoor Water Restrictions, all outdoor water use with City water is prohibited. Many of the 311 calls we are receiving about residential and business watering are related to automatic sprinkler systems still in use. If you have not already done so, please turn off outdoor automatic sprinkler systems. If you need to water your trees or gardens, you can use non-potable water sources like your rain barrel, grey water or river water from one of our designated pick-up locations.

To enforce Stage 4 Outdoor Water Restrictions, we have increased our presence in communities and are monitoring compliance. As of this morning, we have received 755 reports of water misuse this week, up from 576 reports yesterday. This includes 521 for residential, 107 for commercial/industrial and 60 for multi-family residences. Bylaw officers continue following up on these complaints and will issue tickets where required.