June 20 Updates: Officials stress continued water conservation | Cost of repairs to be shared with the public | Repair could be complete July 5 (2024)

Calgary’s Bearspaw water feeder main that ruptured beneath Montgomery earlier in June has been repaired, and crews are currently repairing five “hot spots.”

Here is everything you need to know today as the city continues to deal with a water crisis:

What you need to know about Calgary’s water emergency

• Calgary’s water main could be fixed by July 5th.
• Councillors are raising questions about the cost of the ongoing water crisis.
• The city issued a local state of emergency at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
• The city identified five additional issues with the pipe and says it will now take three to five weeks to repair everything.
• Stampede will go ahead.
• The necessary parts for the repairs have been sourced.
• The city has fixed the initial break in the feeder main and is moving on to repair hot spots.
• Six private sector partners have been engaged by the city to help do the work.
• Calgary is operating underStage 4 water restrictions, meaning all outdoor water use is banned.
• The mayor has asked residents to conserve indoor water use as much as possible, suggesting shorter showers and fewer toilet flushes.
• Commercial and industrial water users have also been asked to cut back, with Gondek asking businesses to consider allowing employees to work from home to “save them the time of having a shower in the morning.”

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On first day of summer, officials stress continued water conservation as hotter temperatures loom

Summer has officially arrived, but Calgarians won’t be allowed to break out their slip ‘n slides or sprinkler systems just yet.

With temperatures forecasted to climb into the 20s in the coming week, city officials are continuing to stress the need for outdoor water restrictions and indoor conservation efforts amid ongoing repairs to the Bearspaw south feeder main.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek stated Thursday that a citywide fire ban and Stage 4 water restrictions, which prohibit any outdoor watering activities, will remain in effect until the water main is fixed and the distribution system is fully restored. She repeated an anticipated “best-case estimate” for service to be fully restored is July 5.

Until then, the need to keep conserving water means summer activities may need to be tweaked, according to Gondek. She suggested alternative ways of beating the heat in the coming week such as going to a movie theatre, visiting an air-conditioned mall or hanging out in the basem*nt.

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Calgary’s construction industry pulling water from Bow River after province fast-tracks permit

The fast-flowing Bow River will be the construction industry’s source of water until Calgary finishes repairs to its damaged water main — a solution the city fast-tracked to relieve some pressure from its clean-water supply.

The city has opened a site at the West Baker Park Boat Launch near Bowness where construction companies can gather free, non-potable water from the Bow River, according to a letter sent to Calgary’s construction industry on Thursday.

The move will allow construction to continue “while not putting any added stress on the city’s water supply,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Thursday morning.

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WATCH: City of Calgary afternoon update – June 20

Thursday afternoon, Mayor Jyoti Gondek addressed concerns over the costs of repair. She said officials are consolidating information, and looking into emergency funds through the provincial and federal government.

Calgary Emergency Management Agency deputy chief Coby Duerr shared that on the day of the feeder main break, CEMA established city-wide financial coding to track all related expenses to this event.

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“It is all being tracked,” he said, and the cost of this incident will be shared with the public.

Duerr also shared that one of the Bow River sites designated for construction use is now open, located at the West Baker Park boat launch. The boat launch remains open.

Access to this non-potable water is only for contractors with active development agreements and permits, commercial landscape companies, bulk water station users, those with hydrant connection unit agreements and contractors working for capital projects for the City of Calgary and regional customers. This water is not currently available to the general public.

Duerr emphasized that river water is not safe for drinking.

He also shared an update on ticketing in relation to this event. Fourteen tickets have been issued to companies for water misuse, and four violation tickets have been issued regarding the fire ban.

In regards to concerns about future water main breaks and other inspections the city should be doing, Gondek announced that the city has been working with oil and gas experts Pure Technology on implementing a smart ball inspection or monitoring method which can be used for monitoring while there is water in the pipe.

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‘Happy to do his part’: 98-year-old Calgary gardener makes every drop count

For many years a near 100-year-old Calgary man has been collecting rain water, which has become more crucial than ever for his garden in light of the city’s ongoing water crisis.

Since a vital water feeder main burst in early June, Calgarians have been hit with outdoor watering bans and are being asked to conserve water in their homes.

Calling the northwest community of Varsity home for over 50 years, 98-year-old Allan Chanin is a “passionate gardener,” said his daughter Michelle Dulmadge.

“(He) has always had rain barrels, is happy to do his part to conserve during the water restrictions,” said Dulmadge. “His greatest joy is being out in his garden and so you worry with water restrictions that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the garden or tend to it.”

Chanin adds, “I’ve been growing stuff all my life.”

Being forced to hang up the hose, he now chooses to use water from his two rain barrels — which he favoured even before restrictions.

Chanin encourages others to get their own barrel: “I’ve been catching water and using it on the plants; plants all seem to do better with rainwater.”

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WATCH: City of Calgary morning update – June 20

Gondek shared Thursday water-use numbers, saying that 454 million litres were used in the city and surrounding communities. This is the fifth consecutive day below the threshold.

She also reminded Calgarians that the July 5 estimate for water restoration is a “best-case estimate,” and cautioned that sites may require more repair than expected, or that water testing may take more time than anticipated.

Recognizing the possibility of delays into July, Gondek explained some of the water-saving techniques Stampede officials are considering, such as using non-potable water to keep dust down on tracks after chuckwagons, and for general cleaning.

She emphasized that while there are backup plans in place, the city is working diligently to have water service restoration by the July 5 estimate.

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10/3 podcast: Calgary has been under severe water restrictions for weeks after main pipe breaks

A break in the city’s main water pipe has had Calgary under severe restrictions for more than two weeks, and it could be several more before the problem is fixed.

This has led to concerns about water usage, and whether the city’s premiere summer festival, the Stampede, should go ahead.

Calgary Herald reporter Scott Strasser joins Dave Breakenridge to discuss what led to the pipe’s failure, how the city is managing the problem, and whether there are concerns that the taps could run dry.

Approximately 20,000 litres of water used in Thursday morning fire

A fire that broke out early Thursday morning at a Bulk Barn on the east side of Macleod Trail S.E. is now under control.

Carol Henke, spokesperson for the Calgary Fire Department, said the fire occurred shortly before 6:20 a.m., with calls to 911 reporting dark smoke coming from the businesses on the west end of a strip mall in the 9200 block of Macleod Trail, just south of 90th Avenue S.E.

The fire appeared to have started inside the business and worked its way up to the ceiling, which meant flames were coming through the roof, according to Henke.

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She added fire crews were cognizant of the ongoing water crisis in Calgary and were able to knock the fire down quickly, using contingencies to limit their draw on Calgary’s water supply.

“We did bring a tender and multiple engines,” she said. “We requested extra resources for the call so we had a back-up redundancy in place should water from the hydrants be an issue. It was not, and fire crews had no concerns with water pressure or water supply and were able to fight the fire as normal.”

Seventeen firefighting apparatuses attended to the blaze, Henke said, including two district chiefs and a fire investigator.

Crews used elevated streams from the ladder trucks to hit the fire from above.

“Our firefighters are incredibly cognizant and tried to find that right balance of reduced water usage with fighting the fire and not impacting their firefighting abilities,” Henke said.

After the flames were extinguished, firefighters entered the building and found that no one was inside the building. Furthermore, no injuries were reported.

While there was no fire damage to neighbouring businesses, Henke did say there will likely be smoke damage to the adjacent facilities.

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Electricity has been shut off to three of the businesses on the west side of the strip mall.

Fire incident commanders at the scene estimate crews used 20,000 litres of water to battle the blaze.

Henke said that if anyone has information, including photos or videos of the fire prior to CFD’s arrival, they can send it to piofire@calgary.ca.

She thanked Calgarians for calling in the fire quickly, noting that fires double in size every 30 seconds.

Repair sites fully excavated as fix for Calgary’s water main could be complete July 5

Wednesday marked two weeks since the main gave way in Montgomery on June 5, leading to Stage 4 water restrictions and eventually a state of local emergency.

After the repairs were complete at the site of the break earlier this week, crews shifted to fixing the five “hot spots” at two separate work sites nearby. The city already had parts for three of the repairs, so the last two pipes had to be outsourced.

The final two pipe segments needed for repairs arrived from San Diego late Tuesday and were being prepared for installation by being sandblasted and epoxy coated, a process that takes two to three days, according to city officials.

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Areas around the affected pipe segments on the two sites were fully excavated Wednesday, allowing crews to begin cutting into portions that will be removed and replaced.

“We are aiming for the low end of our original timeline of three to five weeks, which would be July the 5th,” said Michael Thompson, the city’s general manager of infrastructure services.

“There are still many risks ahead, but every day we work through this complex repair, we become more confident in our timeline.”

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WATCH: City of Calgary afternoon update – June 19

Coby Duerr, Calgary Emergency Management Agency deputy chief, said non-potable water will be provided to construction sites free of charge. He thanked the provincial government for helping with the program, and said he will have more details in the coming days.

During Wednesday’s afternoon update, Duerr said crews are being harassed while working on repairs. He said this is happening while crews are flushing water from pipes, and while it appears wasteful, it is necessary for completion of repairs and restoration of water service.

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“Harassing city staff who are doing critical repair or regulatory work to ensure all Calgarians have access to clean, safe drinking water will not be tolerated,” he said.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that both workers who were injured on-site are out of hospital.

311 has received 7,246 calls related to Calgary’s water event, and issued three tickets.

Four tickets have been issued regarding the city’s fire ban.

Officials estimate water service restoration by July 5.

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Chestermere, Strathmore curtail water use after Calgary pipe burst

Calgary’s water flows far beyond the city limits, as do the repercussions of crises with its sprawling underground network of water pipes.

Two Calgary bedroom communities, Chestermere and Airdrie, get their water from pipes that extend outward from the big city. But the system extends even farther to the Town of Strathmore, more than 60 kilometres away from the Bearspaw feeder main pipe that burst on June 5 in northwest Calgary, causing a water crisis across the region.

Despite the distance, residents of all three communities are in the same boat as Calgarians when it comes to restrictions on outdoor water use over the last two weeks and face the same timeline of up to five weeks for a fix.

Chestermere and Strathmore — with 25,000 and 15,000 residents, respectively — both get their water from a water line that runs 43 kilometres between Calgary and Strathmore.

“We’ve had really, really good response from our residents,” said Strathmore Mayor Pat Fule, noting an average of 23 per cent reduction in water use since June 5 — just shy of the 25 per cent target oft-repeated by Calgary officials.

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WATCH: City of Calgary morning update – June 19

Tuesday was the fourth day in a row that Calgary water use was below the threshold, with 445 million litres used city-wide, according to Gondek.

During a Wednesday morning update, Gondek shared that since the water crisis began two weeks ago, Calgarians have saved approximately 600 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water.

When providing an update on the status of the repairs, she said that the two pieces of pipe coming from San Diego arrived in Calgary Tuesday night and workers have started the process of sandblasting and coating the pipe to prepare for installation.

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Once excavation and inspection are complete on all hot spots, an updated repair timeline will become available.

Addressing concerns on why the city didn’t source locally for the pipe replacements, Gondek said officials focused on local options first but due to the size of the pipe, San Diego County Water Authority was the quickest option as it had the correct size of pipe on hand.

The size of this pipe is not generally used in oil and gas operations.

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600 litres of water used to fight Wednesday morning fire

The Calgary Fire Department responded to a two-alarm blaze around 7:50 a.m. on Wednesday in Bowness, along the 6200 block of Bowwood Drive N.W.

CFD public information officer Carol Henke said it was upgraded to a second alarm not because of the size of the fire, but so additional resources were on hand if needed.

“Approximately 600 litres (of water) were used to fight this fire, so very quick knockdown,” she said.

There were no injuries reported and it is believed the home was vacant.

“We know the approximate origin, in the back room — on or near the mattress area,” said Henke.

Damage was confined to the back room of the house, and did not involve any nearby structures, she said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, and anyone with information including photos or video is encouraged to contact CFD.

‘We’re going to have to pay for this’: Councillors raise questions about cost of ongoing water crisis

The situation is still fluid, but some Calgary city councillors are already starting to raise questions about the financial impact of the ongoing water crisis, as repair work gets underway on the Bearspaw south feeder main’s five additional “hot spots.”

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Council received an update on the water main situation at their regular meeting Tuesday from water services director Nancy Mackay, director of capital priorities and investment Francois Bouchart and Calgary Emergency Management Agency deputy chief Coby Duerr.

After their presentation, Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot asked about the crisis’ overall financial impact, stating he hasn’t seen any figures yet that would hint how much the emergency will ultimately cost the city.

“At some point in time the rubber is going to hit the road,” he said. “When are we going to find out what the cost is going to be for this, and then utilize that in assessing what additional investments we’ll have to make into the future?”

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Calgary’s catastrophic water main rupture to undergo independent review

The city is promising an independent review of the ruptured feeder main to identify why the break occurred and how future failures could be prevented.

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Repair work is progressing concurrently on the five so-called hot spots identified along the line late last week, with pipe from the San Diego County Water Authority expected to arrive by truck Tuesday evening.

Michael Thompson, the city’s general manager of infrastructure services, said preparation work will take some time as the segments must be sandblasted and epoxy coated prior to installation.

City officials still estimate three to five weeks for water main mayhem to subside full service restoration to occur, although an updated timeline is expected by the end of this week.

“I know you want to understand what happened to this pipe in the first place, and I do, too,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Tuesday. “It’s for that reason that I called for a third party to do a complete incident review of this situation.”

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Plants, gardens struggling to survive amid outdoor water ban

After a wet start to June, temperatures are set to climb into the mid-20s in the coming days.

The forecast is worrisome for Brad Hitchings, the store manager of Greengate Garden Centres. He said the hot weather won’t bode well for Calgary’s plants and gardens that have already been damaged by a lack of watering in recent weeks – a consequence of the ongoing outdoor water restrictions.

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“Temperatures are climbing,” he said Thursday. “We’ve been pretty lucky since the pipe burst. In general, we’ve had cool weather and of course on the weekend it was pretty wet. I’m hoping Calgarians had a lot of opportunity to catch a bunch of rainwater or that mother nature was able to water everybody’s trees, shrubs and gardens.”

Despite the wet start to June, Hitchings said he’s noticed a lot of customers coming into his store with damaged plants.

Hitchings said a lot of recent plant damage is the result of aphids attacking the trees and shrubs that have been weakened by a lack of water.

“When a plant is weak, it gives off pheromones that attract disease and insects,” he explained.

“The leaves are all drying up, curling up and that’s because the plants are weaker. If the plant is watered, healthy, strong (fertilized), it doesn’t mean you can’t get bugs, but you’re a lot less likely to.”

While Calgary’s wet May and June helped give plants an important drink, Hitchings said the rainy conditions also led to a growth in local insect populations, which he noted are now “thriving.”

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Another impact of the ongoing water restrictions on gardeners, according to Hitchings, is that some would-be growers have been “handcuffed” into buying more expensive produce at grocery stores rather than be able to grow their own veggies.

He added that water collected in rain barrels is OK for watering shrubs and trees, but due to the presence of pathogens that can come from rooftops and gutters, it’s best to use treated water for edible plants.

“In these times, you might need to buy bottled jugs of water,” he said. “I was at Superstore and they’ve got four-litre jugs with a handle on it for $1.69.

“If you’ve got tomato plants and raised beds, I’m sorry, but go to the store, put up the bucks and then you can water your plants with that water. Nobody wants to do that, it’s an extreme measure, but what are you going to do?”

Even before the ongoing water crisis, Hitchings said many growers had transitioned toward “zero-scaping” and other climate-resilient gardening trends.

He said with the climate conditions of recent springs and summers, Calgary has become a more semi-arid city, and many gardeners have transitioned to growing more zone-hardy, drought-tolerant plants. They’ve used mulch, bark, rock and compost to help retain moisture.

“Those are a few things customers are starting to become more aware and more savvy of,” he said.

Even in his own yard, Hitchings said he has landscape fabric laid down with four inches of rock to limit the amount of sun baking, drying out and evaporation that his soil experiences.

That tactic has saved the amount of watering he does by about 50 per cent.

“It can really reduce watering and (increase) the survivability of the plant,” he said.

–With files from Scott Strasser, Steven Wilhelm and Michael Rodriguez

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