‘In a state of disrepair’: Calgary council receives flood of new info in water-main report

An independent review panel looking at Calgary’s most serious water infrastructure failure in decades is calling for urgent and far-reaching reforms.

The panel warns the city’s water system remains at risk without major changes.

Council members reviewed the panel’s report during a special meeting held Wednesday.

“The current Bearspaw feeder main is in a state of disrepair,” said Siegfried Kiefer, chair of the independent review panel.

The panel’s report says these failures are the result of deferred maintenance and weak risk management.

This single line carries up to 60 per cent of Calgary’s drinking water.

It ruptured in summer 2024 and exploded again just one week ago.

The report says inspections were repeatedly delayed, and an almost identical pipe that burst on McKnight Boulevard in 2004 was a warning that went ignored.

“To repeatedly do that from one council to the next, to the next, to the next—that’s what gets you into this deficit of investment,” said Kiefer.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas said “working together” and “preventative maintenance” are required.

“This is going to be really key. This means proactive shutdowns in the spring and in the fall,” he said.

The panel is making urgent recommendations, including:

• stabilizing the Bearspaw South feeder main and enhancing monitoring to reduce failures;
• strengthening emergency preparedness contingency plans; and
• accelerating construction of a steel pipe parallel to the current main line to eliminate a single point of failure.

“This right now is poor governance,” said Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness.

The panel also recommends creating a dedicated water utility with a single executive in charge and establishing an independent oversight board.

“This council has to start digesting these reports and deciding what is the true priority because we haven’t risk-evaluated this. We haven’t looked at how it applies to the overall org structure,” said Wyness.

Kiefer said, “3 billion in assets, $1 billion a year in revenue. This is not an inconsequential operation, and so it needs to have a dedicated management team.”

While the report doesn’t lay blame on one specific government or individual, Farkas says accountability now falls on this council.

“Calgarians are expecting our council administration to solve this problem for good,” he said.

Farkas says he’s willing to do whatever it takes to implement these recommendations.

As discussions evolve, that could include dipping into the city’s reserve funds.

Farkas says that money is made for a rainy day, and right now it’s pouring, so he has no problem spending whatever is needed for vital water infrastructure changes.

On Wednesday, council was only reviewing the panel report and was set to continue asking questions to its authors until 9 p.m.

The province’s infrastructure minister also weighed in on Wednesday, telling CTV that Alberta’s government is actively looking into this situation and considering whether or not more direct oversight is needed for water utilities.

Around noon Wednesday, the province issued an emergency alert regarding Calgary’s water supply.

“This is an Alberta emergency alert. The City of Calgary has issued a water supply alert,” the notification read.

“Supply levels remain in a critical state, affecting the city’s ability to provide water to communities and ensure adequate water is available for firefighting.”

Wednesday’s alert applies to everyone who relies on Calgary’s water supply.

That includes Calgary residents as well as Airdrie, Strathmore, Chestermere and TsuuT’ina Nation residents.

Actions recommended by the alert include:

• reducing indoor water consumption as much as possible;
• limiting showers and flushing toilets; and
• only doing full loads in dishwashers and washing machines.

Summer 2024

A six-and-a-half-foot-tall concrete pipe located beneath 16 Avenue N.W. burst suddenly the evening of June 5, 2024.

That night, water spewed across the road, flooding nearby sports fields.

It was just the start of what officials described at the time as one of the most significant infrastructure failures in recent memory.

A local state of emergency was declared.

Water restrictions were put in place for a lengthy stretch, sometimes requiring Calgarians to completely cease water use and other times requiring them to limit water use to varying degrees.

In the months that followed the break, the city carried out 29 separate repairs along the feeder main.

The final repairs were completed by November 2024.

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Today’s problem

Water billowed up from under the road in northwest Calgary again last week, causing significant flooding.

Water on the road rose almost to the height of its median.

Water could be seen flowing off both sides of the road, taking over pathways and continuing into the park.

Multiple vehicles became stuck, and more than a dozen people had to be rescued.

No injuries were reported.

A boil water advisory was issued by Alberta Health Services for parts of Montgomery, Parkdale, Point McKay and West Hillhurst.

All Calgarians were placed under water use restrictions.

Question marks

Last week’s break happened in the area of the Sarcee Trail and 16 Avenue N.W. interchange, only a few blocks away from the site of the summer 2024 break.

Back then, the entire length of pipe was inspected.

Michael Thompson, infrastructure services manager, last week said, “239 deteriorated pipes out of approximately 2,000 four-metre-long pipe segments” and “23 additional segments requiring urgent repair” were identified.

“The feeder main still contains segments with minor to moderate structural deterioration today,” Thompson said on Thursday.

“We completed the 23 urgent repairs in 2024.”

“We understood the pipe would need to continue to operate in its current condition while we developed a plan for a long-term replacement,” he said.

Thompson said meanwhile, that stretch of pipe was being monitored.

“In the two months leading up to Dec. 30, we had not heard a wire snap along the pipe or anything in that area,” he said.

“We don’t know why the pipe failed.”