Update July 4: Critical water main break affecting city-wide water usage
CALGARY – Earlier this afternoon, our state of local emergency expired. However our Municipal Emergency Plan is still activated and Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions remain in place as we continue reintroducing our repaired feeder main to the system. City staff continue to monitor the pipe as pressure is increased slowly.
Until we can move on to our next milestone relaxing outdoor water restrictions, the city-wide fire ban remains in place.
The Bearspaw South Feeder Main has been flowing at 50% water capacity and 73% of normal operating pressure. To support bringing on more pressure and flow to the feeder main, we are now undertaking a full condition assessment of the 11 kilometres using a piece of technology called a PipeDiver. The PipeDiver is a high resolution, electromagnetic and ultrasonic pipe inspection tool for large diameter pipe inspections. It operates while the pipe is in service, providing a pipe wall condition assessment, including identifying if there are any wire breaks in the pipe and pinpointing areas of distress.
The inspection is taking place today and it will take approximately 12 hours for the device to swim the length of the pipe and collect data. We expect to receive the results in three to four weeks. After assessing the results, we will use this data to inform if there is further investigation or repair work needed.
After we remove the PipeDriver the next step in our continual monitoring will be placing fiberoptic cable throughout the pipe. This is a longer-term monitoring equipment which will provide information on further deterioration of the pipe.
“I want to stress that lifting the State of Local Emergency doesn’t mean things have gone ‘back to normal,’” says Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Susan Henry. “The feeder main is still not operating at full capacity, and Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions remain in place. We are, unfortunately, still not at a place where we can relax those outdoor restrictions and move to stage 3. This will be a phased approach and, I promise, we will lift what we can as soon as we can.”
Keeping Calgarians informed
Our daily live media updates are now completed. We will continue sharing developing news and important updates with Calgarians regularly. Please visit Calgary.ca and our social channels to stay informed. You can also sign up to receive City of Calgary Newsroom updates at newsroom.calgary.ca.
Recreation program updates
We have resumed most City services that use water indoors such as pools, ice rinks and recreation centres. Most additional aquatic amenities such as indoor play structures, hot tubs, steam rooms, waterslides and kiddie pools are back in service today.
All outdoor pools and spray parks remain closed during Stage 4 restrictions.
Outdoor water restrictions continue
While we are confident that we can currently supply enough water for indoor use, we are keeping Stage 4 outdoor watering restrictions in place, as well as a fire ban. More information on easing outdoor water restrictions will be shared in the coming days as we determine how the system responds to the increased demands.
Spray parks, wading pools and full street sweeping program remain paused while outdoor water restrictions continue. Updates will be posted on calgary.ca as they become available.
Bylaw and Enforcement
To date, we have received 11,433 calls to 311 about this emergency. We encourage Calgarians to use the 311 app or calgary.ca/311 to make your service requests.
Since the event began, we have received 3,035 calls for water misuse, the majority of those have been resolved. We have issued 19 violation tickets.
A fire ban remains in effect for The City of Calgary. We’ve received a total of 281 fire pit concern calls. There have been six violation tickets.